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SOCIALISTS AT WORK 



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SOCIALISTS 
AT WORK 



BY 

ROBERT HUNTER 

AUTHOR OF "POVERTY," ETC. 



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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1908 

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PREFACE 

" Labor is ever an imprisoned god, writhing unconsciously or con- 
sciously to escape out of Mammonism." — Carlyle. 

Almost unknown to the world outside of Labor a 
movement wide as the universe grows and prospers. 
Its vitality is incredible, and its humanitarian ideals 
come to those who labor as drink to parched throats. 
Its creed and program call forth a passionate adhe- 
rence, its converts serve it with a daily devotion that 
knows no limit of sacrifice, and in the face of persecu- 
tion, misrepresentation, and even martyrdom, they 
remain loyal and true. In Russia its missionaries are 
exiled, imprisoned, and massacred, but the progress of 
the movement is only quickened by persecution, prov- 
ing once again that the blood of the martyrs is the seed 
of the Church. In Germany and elsewhere it was 
forced into the night, its leaders were impoverished and 
hunted through Europe; but underground the move- 
ment grew faster than ever. In England it was 
ignored, defeated it was thought by a conspiracy of 
silence, when suddenly the nation awoke to the fact 
that the whole underworld was aflame ; and now lords, 
politicians, and newspapers, consternated and appalled, 
are rallying for a frontal attack. From Russia, across 



vi PREFACE 

Europe and America to Japan, from Canada to Argen- 
tina, and from Norway and Finland to South Africa 
and Australia, it crosses frontiers, breaking through the 
barriers of language, nationality, and religion, as it 
spreads from factory to factory, from mill to mill, and 
from mine to mine, touching as it goes with the religion 
of life the millions of the underworld. 

Its converts work in every city, town, and hamlet in 
the industrial nations, spreading the new gospel among 
the poor and lowly, who listen to their words with 
religious intensity. Tired workmen pore over the lit- 
erature which these missionaries leave behind them, 
and fall to sleep over open pages ; and the youth, in- 
spired by its lofty ideals and elevated thought, leave 
the factory with joyous anticipation to read through the 
night. Its influence reaches throughout ail society, 
and here and there those of the faith are at work in 
science, literature, and art, in churches and colleges. 
Millions are already embraced in its organization, and 
other millions begin to awaken. It has already cap- 
tured some of the outposts of political power, and it 
moves on to higher centres of influence, and even now 
begins to alter the national policy of every European 
government. Its horizon is boundless, and it quietly 
works to group its national organizations into an inter- 
national brotherhood that will abolish war and make as 
of one blood the nations of the earth. 

Strive as I may, I cannot convey to the idle and 
privileged the full revolutionary portent of this new 



PREFACE vii 

movement; and strive as I may, I cannot adequately 
convey to the weary and heavy-laden the grandeur of 
its thought and the noble promise of its message. I 
attempt neither. Beyond a brief chapter upon its 
program, I have not discussed fundamental principles. 
Others have done that far better than I could hope 
to do. But I shall have failed in my purpose if I have 
not brought my reader into intimate contact with the 
men, the organizations, and the work of this powerful 
and significant movement. I endeavor to picture a 
growing organism that already has its ramifications 
throughout society in every civilized country ; and even 
this is but inadequately done, as the movement has 
grown with such rapidity, and has developed so differ- 
ently in the various countries that the task is too great 
for one wishing to keep to the limits of a sizable volume. 
One will learn here, nevertheless, something of its 
leaders, its methods of organization, its congresses and 
propaganda, and its present influence in the foremost 
countries of Europe. It should interest those who are 
curious about current movements ; it should prove a 
warning, if one is needed, to those who live by privilege 
and by exploiting their fellow-men ; and above all, it 
should help to disillusion those who think that socialism 
is some supermundane philosophy that has no contact 
with life, and no especial significance in the world of 
to-day. 

Every new movement has its shibboleths, and the 
socialist movement is no exception. I have endeavored 



Vlll PREFACE 

as far as possible to avoid their use, but the reader will 
find the terms "class," " working-class/' and "class 
struggle " used very frequently in the following pages. 
These terms ought perhaps to be defined in this place. 
The socialists interpret "working-class" very broadly. 
Karl Marx, in 1850, condemned the extremists in the 
Communist Alliance for making a fetich of the word 
" proletariat. " And while no socialist would go so 
far as Frederic Harrison, who says. "The working- 
class is the only class which is not a class ; it is the 
nation"; Wilhelm Liebknecht declared that, "We 
include in the working-class all those who live exclu- 
sively or principally by means of their own labor, and 
who do not grow rich through the work of others. . . . 
It is the party of all the people, with the exception of 
two hundred thousand great proprietors. . . ." 

There is much misunderstanding about the use of 
the term "class struggle." Socialists do not advocate 
the class struggle. They recognize that it is inevitable 
under the present system, and they strive to abolish it. 
The first International began its preamble by saying, 
"The struggle for the emancipation of the working- 
classes means not a struggle for class privileges and 
monopolies, but for equal rights and duties, and the 
abolition of all class rule." "The domination of one 
class," says Jean Jaures, "is an attempt to degrade 
humanity. Socialism, w T hich will abolish all primacy 
of class, and indeed all class, elevates humanity to its 
highest level." Liebknecht says, " Social democracy, 



PREFACE ix 

while it fights the class state, will, by abolishing the 
present form of production, abolish the class war itself." 
As nearly as possible in the descriptive portions of 
the book, I have kept to the limit of my own observa- 
tions in Germany, Italy, France, England, and Belgium. 
Realizing, however, that my readers may wish to know 
something of the movement in other countries, I have 
asked my friend and secretary, Mr. Charles Lapworth, 
to prepare a supplementary chapter. I am happy to 
take this opportunity not only to acknowledge this con- 
tribution to the volume, but also to thank Mr. Lapworth 
for his continuous assistance and helpful criticism dur- 
ing the course of our work. Grateful acknowledgment 
is also due to Mr. Morris Hillquit, Mr. J. G. Phelps 
Stokes, and Miss Helen Phelps Stokes, for having read 
the manuscript and offered many valuable suggestions. 
Special gratitude is due to my wife, who has worked 
over the manuscript and proofs with infinite care and 
devotion. 

Highland Farm, 
Noroton Heights, 
Connecticut, 

January 31, 1908. 



CONTENTS 



Preface 


PAGE 
V 


CHAPTER 
I. 


The German Social Democracy . 


I 


II. 


The Italian Socialist Party 


• 31 


III. 


The French Socialist Party 


. . 56 


IV. 


The British Labor Party 


. 88 


V. 


The Belgian Labor Party . 


. 128 


VI. 


The Program of Socialism . 


• 153 


VII. 


Socialism and Social Reform 


. . 178 


VIII. 


Socialism in the Parliaments 


. 210 


IX. 


Socialism in Art and Literature 


• 2 59 


X. 


The International .... 


. 294 




The Movement in Other Countries . 
(Supplementary Chapter.) 


• 327 


A Few Authorities 


. 364 


Index 




• 369 



XI 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The International Executive Committee . . . Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

August Bebel 3 

Jules Guesde 61- 

Jean Jaures 69- 

William Morris 91 

H. M. Hyndman 114- 

J. Keir Hardie, M.P 123- 

Maison du Peuple, Brussels 137 

First Oven, Cooperative Bakery, Brussels .... 146 

Present Ovens, Cooperative Bakery, Brussels . 146 

A Few Socialist Newspapers 156 

G. Bernard Shaw 204- 

Wilhelm Liebknecht 225- 

Deputies of Labor Party in the Duma 254 

" The Workers' May Pole," by Walter Crane . . . .263 

" The Dock Laborer," by Meunier 267 

Group by van Biesbroeck 276 

" The Glass-worker," by Meunier 286 

Karl Marx 305 

Russian Socialist Deputies listening to the Report of a Peasant 330 



SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

CHAPTER I 

THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 

It is rather startling to one whose observation of so- 
cialist movements has been confined almost entirely to 
the United States, to enter one of the largest and most 
beautiful halls in the world, — a hall seating 10,000 per- 
sons — and find it packed to the point of suffocation with 
delegates, members, and friends of the Social Democratic 
Party of Germany. I speak of entering ; as a matter of 
fact it took me two hours to enter. Relying upon my 
experience at home to guide me, I went half an hour 
late. When I came near the hall, I saw a huge throng 
of people, surely not less than three or four thousand, 
standing before the doors. I congratulated myself upon 
not being later, and hurriedly elbowed my way through 
the crowd in order to be as near the entrance as possible 
when the doors should be opened. But before I had 
gone far I discovered that the hall was already over- 
crowded, and that we were shut out. None of us were 
in a mind for that, and in the crush a few window-panes 
were broken, but it was of no avail ; we were informed 
that the hall would support no more, and the police were 
unyielding. 

It was an impressive sight. They were working men 
— to a man. And they were of that type of working 
man one too rarely sees outside of Germany. They 



2 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

were not pale, anaemic, and undersized, such as one sees 
in the East End of London, or in the factory districts of 
Lancashire ; nor were they the tense, exhausted work- 
men that issue from the factories of the United States. 
It seemed as if they had escaped somehow the perfected 
system of labor-exploitation which exists with us. They 
looked as if they were getting a loaf or two of bread 
the better of the struggle with capitalism. They were 
serious-minded, ruddy-faced, muscular ; one could see 
that they had saved from the exploitation of the factory 
enough physical and mental strength to live like men 
during their leisure hours ; and my belief is that physi- 
cally and mentally they can hold their own in the essen- 
tials with any other class in Germany. These were my 
observations shoulder to shoulder with the mass outside. 
After a time most of those outside went away, and 
when somewhat later a few of those inside came out, I 
slipped in. 

Inside other things impressed me. I was squeezed 
so tight among those immediately about me that I 
could not see them, and I contented myself with look- 
ing across a sea of faces such as I have rarely seen 
massed in one place. Clear and resonant over this sea 
came the voice of Bebel. A few months ago I saw in 
New York a convention of American citizens standing 
on chairs, and for twenty minutes waving their hats and 
arms, quite as if they had lost their senses, in order to 
show their appreciation of a candidate for office. They 
were malcontents, they were in fear lest their liberties 
should be lost them, and they wanted a Moses to save 
them ; this, they thought, was he. Here in Mannheim I 
see an old man talking to his sons. He has watched 
the movement grow up from its childhood, For nearly 




August Bebel. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 3 

half a century he has served it with faithfulness and 
power. He has worked his entire life for this thing ; 
yes, more, he has overworked ; and not seldom has 
he been vexed, wearied, and out of heart. In this 
service he has grown gray, and furrowed, and great. 
To-day he is the ablest man in the Reichstag, and one 
of the most powerful debaters in the world. Every man 
in this hall knows his worth, knows his greatness, and 
loves him ; but instead of grovel and hysteria they give 
him the good round of applause of fellowship and 
affection. It lasts perhaps fifty seconds, and then they 
stop to listen to what he has to say. If what he says 
were nonsense, I think they would let him know, for 
they have not intoxicated themselves with a frenzied 
and worked-up emotion. It was admirable. Without 
hysteria, without the worshipping of heroes, or the seek- 
ing of a Moses to lead them out of the wilderness, this 
German proletariat is coming to its own. They know 
their wilderness, and they are sure of their own capacity 
to hew paths and bridge streams, making a way out 
of the miasma of forest and swamp into the warmth and 
sunshine of the New Time. 

Such was the first general gathering, the night before 
the regular opening of the congress of -the Social Demo- 
cratic Party of Germany. The next morning at eight 
o'clock sharp the delegates assembled for their regular 
work. The entire floor of a large theatre was occupied 
by the delegates from 385 electoral districts of Germany, 
and by about 80 members of the Reichstag. The repre- 
sentatives of the press to the number of a hundred sat 
about the tribune, and the galleries were crowded with 
visitors. Fraternal delegates from other countries occu- 
pied seats upon the platform. 



4 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

It would convey to the reader only a fragmentary 
idea of the German movement to treat in detail the 
work of the congress ; for unlike our American parties,* 
the Social Democrats are not mere opportunists. The 
leading political issue of the moment is not the main 
topic of comment, nor is the congress merely a nominat- 
ing body absorbed in selecting winning candidates and 
devising vote-catching platforms. The conventions are 
annual assemblies for discussing questions of organiza- 
tion, the reports of the commissions and officers, and for 
revising, after thorough discussion, the tactics of the 
party, and perhaps an article of its program. This is 
all made necessary because the Social Democratic Party, 
again unlike our parties, has a definite membership, num- 
bering at the present time 530,000 out of the 3,250,000 
persons who at the last election voted its ticket. This 
membership is the sovereign body ; it pays dues to sup- 
port the organization, together with its offices, schools, 
magazines, and papers. No one can become a member 
of the party who does not subscribe to its program and 
obey its rules of political activity. In each locality the 
members constitute a branch. These branches admin- 
ister the electoral work, carry on the propaganda, and 
discuss, weekly or monthly, current political questions. 
Each year the branches select their delegates to the 
congress, which is therefore merely the representative 
body of the whole party. 

The German party is the oldest and largest socialist 
organization in Europe. It represents the thought of a 
very large proportion of the working men of the entire 
nation. There are more socialists in Germany than there 

* Of course in this and similar statements I do not include the Socialist 
Party of America. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 5 

are people in Spain, or Mexico, or in Belgium, Holland, 
Denmark, and Norway put together. Its present vote 
would have elected the President of the United States 
up till the time of Grant's second term. It polls a mill- 
ion more votes than any other party in Germany. By 
reason of an antiquated distribution of seats the socialists 
elect to the Reichstag only 43 members instead of 115, 
which they should have by right of their numbers ; and 
by reason of unequal suffrage, instead of controlling 
nearly every large city in the German empire, they elect 
only about a third of the members of the Town Councils. 

The party carries on a propaganda of incredible 
dimensions. Its journals reach no less than 1,049,707 
subscribers. There are 65 daily papers, and about 12 
weekly and monthly journals. A comic paper, " Der 
Wahre Jacob/' alone has a circulation of 230,000, and 
" Die Gleichheit," a journal for working women, has 
over 60,000 regular subscribers. Its organ in Berlin, 
" Vorwarts," has a circulation of 120,000. The party 
employs 28 organizing secretaries, who go about the 
country assisting the branches in the work of organiza- 
tion and propaganda. In September, 1906, the national 
committee on education opened a school in Berlin for 
the purpose of training working men as organizers, 
secretaries, and editors. About 30 students are sent 
there entirely at the expense of the party. 

It will be seen that the German socialist movement is 
a democratically controlled organization of a character 
unknown in American politics. Indeed, it is more 
like one of our scientific or professional societies, drawn 
together by a definite purpose, and managing its affairs 
locally and nationally with some definite end in view. 
As a basis of its organization there has been from its 



6 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

inception a program including a brief statement of its 
final aims and immediate demands. Its socialist prin- 
ciples are clear and precise, involving fundamental eco- 
nomic changes, and its program of social and political 
reform includes demands for universal and direct suf- 
frage, direct legislation, the substitution of a militia for 
a standing army, international arbitration, free speech 
and assembly, compulsory education, free legal and 
medical assistance, the abolition of capital punishment, 
a graduated income and property tax, the protection of 
working men and women, prohibition of child labor, 
governmental insurance and the eight-hour day. Sup- 
plementary to this general program, the annual national 
congress expresses by resolution its opinion upon cur- 
rent political and social problems. 

Naturally the most prominent men in the movement 
attend these annual gatherings. Now that Wilhelm Lieb- 
knecht is dead, the first man is, of course, August Bebel. 
He is nearing his seventieth year, and, although gray, 
he has in the tribune the appearance of a man of great 
physical strength. His rapidity and spontaneity of ac- 
tion seem to denote youthful health and vigor; but 
when I spent a Sunday with him afterward, quietly 
walking in the woods, I saw that he was small, narrow 
of shoulder, and delicate. For nearly fifty years he has 
been a leader of German working men's movements, 
and for forty years he has had a seat in the Reichstag. 
Mrs. Wilhelm Liebknecht once told me of her first 
meeting with the two men who built up the socialist 
movement in Germany. In the sixties she was taking 
English lessons of the sister of the philosopher Biich- 
ner, and was invited one afternoon to go for a walk 
with a small party of their guests, consisting among 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 7 

others of "two interesting young men." One of them 
was sitting in the garden. He was pale and thin, with 
long hair falling about his shoulders, a serious face, 
brown eyes, and a languishing, love-sick air. She said 
she first thought him a sentimental poet. It was August 
Bebel, then a master turner, in wretched health and 
threatened with tuberculosis. Despite poverty and ill- 
ness he was at the time carrying on an extraordinary 
agitation, and although a youth, was already the leader 
of one of the largest working men's movements in Ger- 
many. When the party reached the top of the hill, Mrs. 
Liebknecht met her future husband ; a tall, interesting- 
looking man with strongly intellectual tastes. They 
began to talk of Kant, Hegel, and the other great Ger- 
man philosophers ; and directly fell to quarrelling, as he 
attacked them and their " nonsense " with great vehe- 
mence, while she defended them as well as she could. 
This was about the time that Liebknecht, the disciple 
and representative of Marx in Germany, was converting 
young Bebel to socialism. It was fortunate for Bebel 
that shortly afterward he was imprisoned for dissemi- 
nating " doctrines dangerous to the state," as in prison 
rest and food restored him to health. 

There is also, at the congress, Paul Singer, that ex- 
traordinary organizer, who has done so much to perfect 
the machinery of the movement. Singer was a rich 
and successful business man, who after his conversion to 
socialism devoted all his power and genius for business- 
like organization to the party's affairs. Liebknecht and 
Bebel were agitators and politicians; Singer, the quiet 
and effective administrator building up and strength- 
ening the organized forces behind them. A good part 
of his large fortune has been devoted to invigorating 



8 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the party journals and organs of propaganda. Besides 
Singer there are other prominent party leaders, includ- 
ing Auer, another extraordinary organizer; Kautsky, 
the scholar of the movement, and Legien, the head of 
the trade union forces. 

Two days of the congress were given to the debate 
upon the general strike, or what the Germans signifi- 
cantly call the Politischen Massenstreik. Within recent 
years the idea of the general strike has gained many 
adherents in the European movement. In France and 
Italy, where the revolutionary tradition is strong, and 
broad generalization seductive, the idea of such an up- 
rising of the workers has taken firm hold on the imagi- 
nation. In Germany and England it has few advocates. 
In Belgium it has been twice employed to force political 
reforms, once with signal success. The immense revolu- 
tionary power resting in its natural and proper use was 
shown once in Russia. In Germany there has recently 
arisen a demand on the part of the more extreme sections 
of the party, the hotter heads, and especially the anarcho- 
socialists, for its adoption as an ordinary weapon of the 
working class against the tyrannies of the government. 
At the congress of the trade unions at Cologne in 1905, 
a resolution advocating the use of the general strike was 
rejected. But a few months later the socialist congress 
at Jena expressed recognition of its value and advocated 
its use. Bebel himself spoke in its favor. Later, how- 
ever, when the party was considering plans for an im- 
mense propaganda to gain universal suffrage in the 
elections for the Prussian Landtag, and to retort to the 
assaults directed against universal suffrage in certain 
other German states, and the general strike was proposed 
as a means to that end, Bebel declared that the moment 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 9 

had not come for such extreme measures and that he 
would oppose all propaganda looking to immediate action 
of that character. This series of events created through- 
out the party a lively discussion, and to clear up the 
matter the subject of the general strike was put upon 
the program for discussion at this congress. 

Bebel, in summing up its recent history, maintained 
that the general strike cannot be organized artificially. 
" It is possible,'' he said, "only when the masses are in 
a high ferment. In Russia the use of the general strike 
has broken down. Such successful strikes as there have 
been of this character were not artificially organized by 
the working men's associations. They were provoked 
by events. In August, 1906, the workers refused to 
participate in the strike because they considered it inop- 
portune." BebeFs opposition to the use of the general 
strike, except under extraordinary conditions and with 
the accompaniment of a revolutionary state of mind on 
the part of the masses, called forth a heated discussion. 
Young Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg attacked 
Bebel's position with considerable warmth, but at the 
close of the debate Bebel was supported by a large 
vote. 

The resolution upon which this debate took place, 
while reaffirming the declaration of the congress of Jena, 
recommended with particular insistence consideration of 
the resolutions which favored the reenforcement and 
development of the party organization, and the reciprocal 
affiliation of the members of the trade unions to the 
political groups. It also declared that as soon as the 
national committee of the party recognized the necessity 
for a general strike, it must put itself in relation with the 
national committee of the trade unions in order to take 



10 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

all the measures necessary to assure to the action a 
fruitful result. 

In one paragraph of the resolution it was declared 
that trade unions were indispensable to the bettering of 
the conditions of the workers under the present state of 
society, but that having a class conscience, the unionists 
should equally pursue the aims of the Social Democratic 
Party in seeking to deliver the working-class from the 
present wage-system. Kautsky created an important 
discussion by proposing as an amendment that the 
trade unions should be dominated by the spirit, and 
bound by the decisions, of the party. This brought 
up one of the most burning questions of socialist poli- 
tics ; namely, whether or not the unions should have an 
independent existence. In France the trade unionists 
have assumed an attitude of neutrality ; in America they 
forbid all politics in the unions ; in Belgium they are a 
part of the political organization; and in England 
they are a political organization. It is an old and 
much-debated question of tactics. Kautsky is an un- 
compromising believer in the unions being dominated 
by socialist political policies. But he and his supporters 
were defeated, and the revised amendment which follows 
was put and carried by a large majority : — 

" To assure the unity of thought and of action of the 
party and of the unions, which is supremely necessary 
to the victorious march of the proletarian class struggle, 
it is indispensable that the unions should be permeated 
by the spirit of social democracy. It is the duty of all 
members of the party to work toward this end." 

The thing that impressed me most at the German 
congress was its distinct proletarian character, and the 
extraordinary intelligence and ability of the working 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY II 

men in attendance. I spoke of this to Ledebour, one 
of the most effective and pleasing orators of the party, 
and a member of the Reichstag from Liebknecht's old 
constituency in Berlin. He remarked that it had be- 
come noticeably more so in recent years. The opposi- 
tion to the party on the part of middle-class parents, 
and the prejudice inculcated by instructors in the 
schools and universities, had kept the younger men of 
better education out of the movement. For this reason 
it became necessary for the socialists to have a school of 
their own to train the youth of the working-class as 
editors and secretaries. 

As the proletarian character of the movement struck 
me, so did the independent, able, and frank discussion 
on all the important matters. The officials, the editors, 
and the representatives in the Reichstag were called to 
account for every act that could justly be questioned or 
was of a controversial nature. The German rank and 
file are not being blindly led anywhere ; and while 
Bebel's power is immense, it results — aside from his 
exceptional ability — from the scrupulous care with 
which he always presents his side of any case. To 
those who hear him there can be no mistaking of his 
position. His sincerity, and the way an idea dominates 
his mind, so that he can present it to his audience from 
every conceivable point of view, enables him to carry 
his party with him. Thorough, painstaking thinking, 
clear and forceful repetition of his thought with exhaust- 
ive care to make his position clear to the most obstinate 
opponent or the most stupid auditor, are to my mind 
the secret of this extraordinary man's success. It is a 
power which Lincoln had, only Lincoln had it in an 
even more gifted way. He was usually able to make 



12 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

his position clear in a few words. Bebel attains the 
same end, but, at times, only by the most laborious 
means. 

It struck me also that the party was to all outward 
appearances conservative. It is conscious of its enor- 
mous power and feels deeply its responsibility. I do 
not mean that it is cowardly, that it does not take the 
most advanced ground in its political program, or that 
it dilutes in any way the revolutionary aim of the move- 
ment. What I mean is that it is not uselessly offending 
any one. Inside the party the leaders are extremely 
careful not to offend the more backward and slow-mov- 
ing elements, which are perhaps as numerous in the 
German movement as elsewhere. The more advanced 
are willing to sacrifice positions which they would other- 
wise take or hold in order to retain the adhesion of the 
less revolutionary members. They scrupulously avoid 
giving offence to the trade unions, and give them all as- 
sistance and consideration in their method of advancing 
the proletarian cause.* I suspect a majority of the con- 
gress were in favor of Kautsky's resolution, only they 
were unwilling to press it against the wishes of the trade 
unionists. 

Outside the party they are quite as careful not to give 
the reactionary elements in the empire any unnecessary 

* The party maintains the closest possible relation with the trade union 
movement, which is now the strongest in the world, numbering in all its 
branches 2,300,000 members. At the end of 1 906 the trade unions con- 
nected with the great central organization numbered 1,799,293 members, 
or an increase of 369,000 over the preceding year. The women in the 
movement numbered 132,821, as against 89,500 in the previous year. The 
total receipts amounted to over $10,500,000, and the expenses to $8,000,000. 
Strikes and lockouts cost about $4,750,000; while sickness and out-of- 
work pay only absorbed $1,750,000. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 13 

excuse for their attacks. For instance, it is unquestion- 
able that Bebel, aside from what seems to me his sound 
theory of the milieu which must exist as a soil for the 
proper incitement and development of the successful 
Massenstreiky is influenced by his fear of the power of 
the reaction if it should be too much harassed. For 
instance, in his speech on the general strike, he said : 
" My opinion at bottom has never varied. I have always 
said that the general strike cannot be organized in 
Prussia as in other countries. We are in the presence 
of a violent reaction, malicious and brutal, against which 
we cannot launch an organization such as so important 
a struggle demands. To attempt such an adventure 
without being prepared is to furnish to the reactionaries, 
to the agents provocateurs, the very occasion they 
desire to reduce still further that which remains of our 
liberties. ,, 

That, it seems to me, is a pretty conservative stand 
for the leader of the greatest political party in Germany 
to take. But Bebel unquestionably relies upon parlia- 
mentary methods and strength for the attainment of 
socialist ends. The working men must still further 
unite, must still further become conscious of the historic 
role they are to play before they will be, able, in the 
words of Karl Marx, to throw off their chains. Until 
both of these objects of the party are attained it might 
lose much that it has already gained if it were to attempt 
to move by revolutionary methods. This attitude is con- 
ciliatory and, in a sense, conservative. Is it not also far- 
seeing and wise ? 

When we left Mannheim, no one thought that within 
a few months the German empire would be in the throes 
of an election. The general opinion was that the gov- 



14 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ernment would not soon again give the socialists an 
opportunity to prove their strength. Flushed with suc- 
cess, and enjoying an electoral history of remarkable 
achievement, the socialists were perhaps over-confident 
of their growing influence and power. With an organi- 
zation little short of perfection, with an electoral strength 
nearly double that of any other party, with local elec- 
tions going everywhere in their favor, it were unrea- 
sonable to expect a set-back. To the astonishment, 
therefore, of all Europe the German government in 
December, 1906, on a ridiculous issue, ordered the 
dissolution of parliament, and appealed to the country. 
The government had demanded from the Reichstag a 
supplementary grant of 29,220,000 marks, a compara- 
tively small sum, for the maintenance of troops in South- 
west Africa. In spite of a pathetic appeal from the 
Chancellor, Prince von Buelow, this demand was re- 
jected. The Conservatives, Antisemites, and National 
Liberals were ready to give their 168 votes, but the 
Clerical and Social Democratic parties refused their 178 
votes. The latter went so far as to demand a reduction 
in the fighting strength in the colony from 8000 to 
2500 men. Military advisers declared that any such re- 
duction would be dangerous to the interest of the Ger- 
man colonial policy. Buelow, who was anxious to cut 
himself loose from the control of the Clericals, insisted 
upon the Reichstag voting the required sum, and upon 
his defeat, he carried out his threat of dissolution. 
There was tremendous excitement throughout the Ger- 
man empire, but the general belief was that the actual 
position would not be changed, and that the government 
would have to meet the same opposition when the next 
parliament assembled. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 1 5 

The Reichstag is elected by universal manhood suf- 
frage by ballot (every man of 25 has a vote), and there 
is supposed to be one deputy for every 100,000 inhabit- 
ants. But the electoral divisions were settled in 1869 
and 1871, and have never since been altered. In 1871 
there were 397 deputies, because the population was at 
that time about 39,000,000 ; but since then it has increased 
to nearly 60,000,000, and the number of deputies has 
remained the same. The rural population of Germany 
has during this period decreased, while that of the cities 
has increased many-fold. For example, Berlin, in 1869, 
had 600,000 inhabitants, and therefore six members. It 
now has a population of nearly 2,000,000, and should 
have 20 members, but it is still represented by only six. 
The Clericals and Conservatives are usually returned 
from rural and thinly populated districts, while the 
Social Democrats gain their support mainly from the 
cities and large industrial centres. For instance, they 
elect all but one of the members for Berlin, and have 
great strength in Chemnitz, Zwickaw, Stuttgart, Frank- 
fort, Karlsruhe, Dortmund, Duisberg, Hannover, Ham- 
burg, Munich, Nuremberg, Leipsic, etc. But it is 
precisely these places that suffer from inadequate rep- 
resentation, and consequently the Social Democrats, 
with over 3,000,000 votes, send only 43 deputies to the 
Reichstag, while the Conservative party, with 1,000,000, 
returns fifty-nine. 

In Germany, as in other continental countries, there 
are many parties with different shades of political opinion. 
It is difficult to give an American an exact idea of what 
they stand for, as they differ so much from our parties. 
They represent almost every point of view ; sometimes 
standing for the interests of one class or another ; some- 



1 6 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

times for the interests of certain nationalities in the em- 
pire ; sometimes for specific economic and political 
principles. It may, however, be said that there are 
sixteen different parties or fractions, as they are called 
in Germany, the five most important of which represent 
as nearly as possible the following definite interests : 
The Conservatives are a powerful group representing 
the old aristocracy, and supporting monarchical and auto- 
cratic institutions. The National Liberals here, as 
everywhere, represent the industrial interests, and while 
politically more advanced than the Conservatives, from 
the economic point of view their interests are even more 
opposed to the workers than those of the Conservatives. 
During the last ten years the Liberals have been forced 
to support the monarchy. The Freisinnige represent 
the Free Trade section ; their philosophy is mainly that 
of the Manchester School, and their watchword " Modern 
Progress and Freedom of Commerce." The two most 
powerful parties are the Clericals and the Social Demo- 
crats ; together they have as many votes as all the others 
combined ; but the division between them is complete. 
The Clericals represent the Catholic interests. Their 
strength is among the most conservative and often the 
most ignorant classes of the population, and their power 
is immense. The Social Democrats, on the other hand, 
represent the wage-earners, and the most intelligent and 
far-seeing of the small-propertied classes. 

With this short statement of the suffrage inequalities 
and party divisions the electoral campaign will be more 
intelligible. Having broken with the Clericals, Buelow 
had now to look elsewhere for the governmental ma- 
jority. Accordingly, when he gave out the "Wahl- 
parole," he did not publish it in an official paper, but 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY l J 

addressed an open letter to the head of the National 
Party (Reichspartei), a section of the Liberals whose 
chief aim is to combat the socialist movement. The 
combating of socialism was the bridge which, it was 
hoped, would join the Conservatives and the Liberals; 
and it was decided their electoral tactics should be to 
try to awaken that apathetic part of the propertied class, 
who seldom trouble to vote, to a sense of the danger of 
revolutionary socialism. This made it appear that the 
government was not chiefly combating the Clericals, 
although, as was subsequently shown, it used under- 
hand methods in its vain attempt to crush their power. 
Nevertheless, the electoral campaign resolved itself 
mainly into a struggle of Conservatives and Nationalists 
against Social Democrats. 

At the beginning of the campaign "the honor of 
the nation " was preached from every reactionary plat- 
form, but rather unfortunately for the empire-makers 
the government itself was obliged, at the end of a week, 
to admit that the war with the Hereros was at an end. 
This, however, did not discourage the bourgeois candi- 
dates from exploiting the people's patriotism. Votes 
were obtained by every means possible. The workers 
were beguiled, by jingoism and imperialism, into forget- 
ting their own troubles ; the bourgeois were awakened 
to the danger in which their privileges stood from social- 
ism. The merchants were terrified into action at the 
impending danger of a socialist state, and were assured 
that their only hope lay in joining to form a compact 
majority. The interested classes were called on to 
support the institutions which supported them. The 
disinterested and exploited workers were fed with 
Chauvinism and fallacies concerning the advantages 



1 8 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

which would accrue to them from the colonial policy of 
the government. Glowing pictures of the might of 
Great Britain, due, it was pointed out, to her compre- 
hensive colonial policy, were played up before them. 
These chords were harped upon, as we shall see, with 
considerable success. 

Social Democrats make no compromises with the 
bourgeois. They agree to nothing that will not radically 
change the present system ; and the rulers, knowing 
that they cannot placate them by passing small reforms, 
are now awake to the fact that if they are to con- 
tinue their present power, they must crush socialism. 
The socialists in parliament had, in some cases, opposed 
small measures of reform as being inadequate, and their 
opponents were not slow to misrepresent this action to 
the workers, telling them that the socialists did not want 
or intend to pass measures for their benefit. The trade 
unions look to the socialist members to support reforms 
in their interest sometimes without regard to Social 
Democratic principles, and occasionally the socialists in 
parliament have not done so, preferring to oppose reform 
measures which only tend to stanch and not to heal 
injustice caused by the present system. It is easy for 
the other parties to turn to their own advantage 
such action on the part of socialists. Besides these 
" constitutional " methods of attacking socialism, the re- 
actionary parties used others. 

It would seem almost unbelievable that in modern 
Germany methods were used to coerce people to vote 
against their convictions and interests. Nevertheless, 
that seems to be the fact, and it has since been proved 
that the governmental machinery was used to carry out 
a great scheme of intimidation against the workers. As 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 



19 



we know, there is no such thing as free speech in Ger- 
many. Every political meeting is under the superin- 
tendence of a " gendarme," who may declare a meeting 
illegal if he considers the speeches dangerous to the 
powers that be. It is therefore a very simple matter 
for those in authority to break up and prevent socialist 
meetings. As this power was used to its greatest ex- 
tent in the last elections, the socialist campaign was 
greatly handicapped. Many saloon-keepers were forced 
by brewers and rich proprietors to refuse to let their 
rooms to socialists, and meetings were dispersed on the 
flimsiest pretexts. The socialists in many places took 
to holding meetings in the open air, but the season was 
against them. As an instance of really tyrannical in- 
timidation may be cited a case in the industrial town 
of Saar, where the employers engaged men, armed with 
cudgels, to attack socialist propagandists. 

So much for the battle carried on against the social- 
ists. The figures of the parliamentary strength of the 
chief parties before and after the election may be given 
as follows : — 





1903 


1907 




Votes 


Deputies 


Votes 


Deputies 


Centre (Catholics) 


1,875,292 


IOO 


2,183,381 


IO5 


Conservatives 


948,448 


55 


1,070,658 


59 


National Liberals 


1 ,31 3>°5i 


52 


1,654,738 


55 


Social Democrats 


3,010,771 


81 


3,258,968 


43 


All other parties 


2,348,025 


109 


2,994,353 


i35 







From these figures it will be seen that the government 
gained a striking parliamentary victory, but it would be 
a mistake to think that the socialists suffered defeat. 



20 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

The strength of socialism in Germany cannot be 

measured by the number of its parliamentary represen- 
tatives, because its parliamentary strength depends 
largely on the electoral law. At present this does not 
permit the socialists to show their real strength, and the 
electoral law might be so changed that it would be 
impossible for them to capture a single seat. These 
electoral changes have little significance, however. 
The vote is a better test, as the number of convinced 
socialists alone is the true measure of the real power of 
the movement. In the judgment of the leaders the 
socialists actually gained a great victory. The first 
reason for this belief is that in the face of a terrific 
campaign they increased their vote by 250,000. The 
second is that they have finally forced the more 
advanced sections of the bourgeois parties into the 
conservative ranks. In other words they have been 
fortunate in this campaign in compelling the other 
parties to form a block to fight unitedly the interests 
of the working-class. The Liberals, only too glad to 
throw in their lot with the government, have therefore 
ceased to be an opposition party ; and now that they 
have sided with the government in favor of reaction, 
their influence with the people will diminish. This forc- 
ing of other parties into the ranks of the reactionaries 
is a great gain for the socialist cause, for in the next 
elections hundreds of thousands of voters will see that 
there is no longer any hope of reform from these other 
parties. 

The loss of socialist seats, then, is not due to a 
diminution of socialist strength. It is the result of the 
cooperation of all parties, excepting the Clericals, 
against socialism, and the bringing to the booths of a 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 



21 



great mass of apathetic citizens who seldom vote. 
Whatever could be done by the government to weaken 
the suffrage of socialists was done ; but these methods 
have their limit, as "Vorwarts" said immediately after 
the first election. From 1877 to 1884 the socialist vote 
only increased from 493,288 to 549,990, but from 1884 
to 1903 the party gained an increase in votes of 
2,500,000. In the five years 1898-1903 they increased 
nearly 1,000,000. But these million new voters were 
not all grounded socialists, while those in the late 
election, some three and a quarter million, who gave 
their support to socialist candidates were, it is fair to 
assume, no raw recruits, but thoroughgoing socialists. 
All but the very surest were swept away in the tumult 
of jingoism created by the other parties. 

Growth of Social Democracy since 1867 





Votes 


Deputies 




1871 


124,655 


2 




1874 


35**952 


IO 




1877 


493,288 


13 




1878 


437,158 


9 




1881 


311,961 


13 




1884 


549,990 


24 




1887 


763,128 


II 




1890 


1,427,298 


35 




1893 


1,786,738 


44 




1898 


2,107,076 


56 




1903 


3,010,771 


81 




1907 


3,258,968 


43 





Figures are sometimes illuminating, and the preced- 
ing table will show clearly the growing power of the 
socialist movement in Germany. No comment is neces- 



22 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

sary, but it may be of use to the reader if he will 
compare for the various years the electoral strength with 
the number of representatives sent to the Reichstag. 
It will be observed that this is not the first time the 
socialists have increased their votes and lost seats. In 
1887 they lost over half their parliamentary represen- 
tation, and yet they gained an increased vote of nearly 
200,000. 

These figures show a remarkable and significant 
growth, and it is natural to ask what use have the 
socialists made of this increasing power ? It is gen- 
erally known that within the last thirty years Germany 
has developed a daring policy of State Socialism. 
Municipal and national ownership of public utilities 
and natural resources has proceeded at a pace that 
has amazed the rest of Europe. At the same time 
labor legislation for the protection of the working- 
class has been developed until it is a model for Europe. 
Social and industrial conditions have been revolution- 
ized. The conditions of the working-class in Germany 
have been changed so that what were among the worst 
in Europe are now the best. Some mighty force has 
wrought this change. No one, so far as I know, 
believes that it is due to superior benevolence on the 
part of the upper classes of Germany, or that they are 
more humane than the like classes of other nations. 
Indeed, it is sometimes doubted that the German 
capitalists are, as a rule, as philanthropically inclined 
as, for instance, those of England. And yet the fact 
remains that despite the lack of unusual concern for 
the welfare of the masses, Germany has evolved an 
exceptional and admirable code of legislation which has 
materially improved the condition of the masses. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 23 

It is impossible to place this beneficent legislation to 
the credit of the old Emperor, and no one knowing the 
history of recent years can feel that the credit belongs 
to the capitalists. On the contrary, they fought it at 
every step, and accepted it finally with lamentation. 
Indeed, it was not a voluntary policy on the part either 
of the Emperor or of Bismarck or of the capitalists. It 
was forced upon the nation by the insistent demands 
and threatening power of a united and uncompromising 
working-class. It was this force which made a change 
of policy necessary, and it was Bismarck's shrewd po- 
litical sagacity that devised a plan to ease the struggle, 
to soften the lot of the workers, and yet to keep capi- 
talism intact. 

The real significance of the matter is that as liberal- 
ism in the early part of the century forced its way to 
freedom through the restrictions and privileges of the 
land-owning classes, so in these later days socialism is 
forcing upon capitalism, legislation giving greater free- 
dom to the masses and more generous treatment to the 
producers. Liberalism gained its object by a series 
of violent outbreaks and bloody revolutions. lt The 
working-class has thus far in Germany pursued its 
course peacefully, and has gained what has already 
been accorded to it only by an impressive and insistent 
solidarity. Just as liberalism revolutionized the eco- 
nomic and political policies of the old feudal powers, 
socialism begins to revolutionize the economic policy 
of capitalism. 

A bit of history will fully prove this assertion. Social 
Democracy, naturally enough, made but little progress 
in Germany before 1871. The agitation of Lassalle, 
Liebknecht, and Bebelwas already putting the working- 



24 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

class into a state of ferment and unrest Up to that 
time Social Democracy as a political force was insignifi- 
cant. But the disintegration of the old political par- 
ties, due largely to the financial crisis resulting from 
the Franco-Prussian war, and Bismarck's adverse laws 
against the Catholics, gave the socialists their first po- 
litical opening. Both Liebknecht and Bebel were im- 
prisoned for the publication of treasonable writings ; 
nevertheless, whilst still in prison, both were returned 
_:e Reichstag, and the Social Democratic Party 
polled a surprisingly large vote. The government be- 
came frightened and the police were ordered to carry 
on a campaign of extermination against the socialists. 
Instead of this having the desired effect of breaking up 
and destroying the various groups then existing, it forced 
them to unite for the common good. In the year 1875 
they finally completed their union, and from that time 
until to-day there has been a united working men's 
party. In the year 1877 the party polled nearly 
a half-million votes, elected 12 men to the Reichstag, 
and many other representatives to state and municipal 
administrative bodies throughout Germany. The fear of 
Social Democracy was naturally increased by its con- 
tinued success. In May, 1878, the Emperor was shot 
at. In June of the same year he was fired at again and 
severely wounded. These two attempts upon his life, 
while in no way connected with the Social Democrats, 
were nevertheless represented to be the result of their 
agitation; and they gave Bismarck the opportunity he 
desired to pass his anti-socialist legislation. Then be- 
gan a period of governmental repression, carried on 
by all the powers of the state, against social democracy. 
Instead, however, of destroying the movement, it merely 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 2$ 

forced it underground ; and through secret organization 
the party continued to carry on its propaganda, and to 
gather under its banner new recruits. Herr Richter, 
the Progressist leader, was quite right when he prophe- 
sied, " I fear social democracy more under this law 
than without it." 

Bismarck was too shrewd a politician to use but one 
weapon in an emergency of this sort. With one hand 
he made a gigantic effort to annihilate the socialist 
party ; the other he reached out ostentatiously in sym- 
pathy to the working-class. By the side of repression 
he developed his policy of State Socialism. He turned 
his mind for the time from purely political and diplo- 
matic problems to economic questions, and he frankly 
stated at various times in the Reichstag that he intended 
to adopt as a policy every reasonable measure advocated 
by the socialists, and to carry them out for the benefit 
of the workers. He went even further and announced 
that he was himself a socialist, and acknowledged the 
" right to work," and the responsibility of the state to 
protect the working-class, and to provide for those 
broken down in industry. The Emperor also insisted 
upon the passage of legislation which would positively 
advance the welfare of the working-classes. " Past 
institutions/' he said in his message to the Reichstag 
in 1879, "intended to insure working people against the 
danger of falling into a condition of helplessness owing 
to the incapacity resulting from accident or age, have 
proved inadequate, and their insufficiency has to no 
small extent contributed to cause the working-classes 
to seek help by participating in Social Democratic 
movements." 

It would be easy to quote from the speeches of Bis- 



26 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

marck, Bebel, Liebknecht, and other parliamentary 
leaders of the time, as well as from the Emperor's 
messages to the Reichstag, to show that the socialist 
movement forced upon the government this change of 
policy.* Other countries have in some rare instances 
partially abandoned the policy of laissez faire on be- 
coming informed of its merciless ruin of the poor ; 
but in Germany social democracy has forced its com- 
plete abandonment by the state. Alone in Europe at 
this time the German working-class was conscious of 
its power and wise in its solidarity, and alone in Europe 
the German capitalists were thus early forced to 
capitulate. 

In the midst of these stirring times a plan was put 
before the Reichstag for the insurance of working men, 
and in the years that have followed this legislation has 
been so improved and extended that now every work- 
man's family possessing an income under $500 a year 
is assured of a pension in case of need due either to 
sickness, accident, old age, or death. Up to the eighties 
very little legislation had been passed for the pro- 
tection of workmen while employed, but an improved 
code was drawn up, which has become a part of the 
legislation of the empire. Railroads and other public 
utilities, mines and other natural resources, have been 
gradually taken over by the state. Public utilities neces- 
sary to the various municipalities have been municipal- 
ized, and an improved system of taxation, intended to 
relieve the pressure upon the poorer classes, has also 
been drawn up and passed. f 

The result of this State Socialism was not felt imme^ 

* See also pp. 223-224. 

t For a fuller treatment of social reform in Germany see Chapter VII. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 2J 

diately. Indeed, one only begins now to see its effect 
upon the German nation. When it was introduced, 
Germany was on the verge of ruin. Trade, industry, 
and agriculture were depressed, and the laboring- 
classes were among the most miserable in Europe. 
The cities were filled with wretchedness and poverty ; 
they were insanitary; the housing of the people was 
abominable; and everywhere the masses of the poor 
lived in abject misery. The policy of laissez faire had 
brought Germany to the same bankrupt condition that 
one still finds in England and that begins to show 
itself in America. The working-class, hopelessly dis- 
couraged, and embittered by poverty, was in a state of 
dangerous discontent ; and Bismarck became convinced 
that there was no hope of retaining its political alle- 
giance while its misery was unbearable. 

It would be folly to maintain that State Socialism has 
been the sole cause of what is, comparatively speaking, 
the present remarkable prosperity of the German em- 
pire ; and yet no one can doubt that no matter what 
other forces may have been at work, the policy of pro- 
tecting the working-classes, and of ameliorating their 
condition of life, has been one powerful cause of the 
improved conditions. Industry in Germany is enjoy- 
ing a prosperity equalled perhaps nowhere else. The 
exports have increased at a rate rarely equalled by 
any other country. vV The concentration of wealth has 
been no less striking than in the United States. 
Trusts, combinations, and pools have rendered indus- 
trial operations more economical, and relieved the 
nation of some of the ruinous costs of competition. 
Along with this enrichment of the capitalist has pro- 
ceeded an amelioration of the living and working con- 



28 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ditions of the people. The state insurance system of 
Germany distributes over $100,000,000 every year to 
the working-class in the form of benefits and indemni- 
ties.* The municipalities have so improved the living 
conditions in the cities that to-day there are prac- 
tically no slums in Germany. The aged and sick, the 
injured in industry, all have their little patrimony to 
keep them from want. There is poverty in Germany, 
wages are low, conditions are still intolerable ; but the 
improvement over the old days and over the condi- 
tions still obtaining in neighboring countries gives 
one the impression that there is no dire want in the 
German empire. '/ 

When this enlightened policy was forced upon the 
government, and Bismarck pleaded for its acceptance, 
the large industrialists prophesied the ruin of German in- 
dustry. It was repeatedly said that the heavy burdens 
placed upon capital by the new legislation could not be 
borne, and that German industry would be unable to 
continue in competition with the rest of the world. 
When liberalism defeated landlordism, it was said, as 
we all know, that the ruin of the nations had come. Now 
that socialism is defeating liberalism, it is being said 
that the ruin of industry is certain. But capitalism for- 
gets one thing; namely, that labor can be exhausted 
and made unprofitable. Of course it is not primarily for 
the capitalists to remember the interests of labor, and if 
the workers did not organize to protect themselves, they 
would be exhausted and impoverished. For humanity 

* In 1903 the number insured against sickness was nearly eleven million; 
the number insured against accident was nearly eighteen million; and 
the number insured against old age and invalidity was about thirteen and 
a half million. 



THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY 29 

is a part of nature, and labor, like land, must be enriched 
in order to make it productive. It is, therefore, a curious 
fact that a policy which was forced upon capitalists 
blinded by self-interest, and which it was claimed threat- 
ened them with ruin, has in no slight degree actually 
promoted their present prosperity. 

The German movement has much to teach us. To a 
political reformer it has a lesson ; namely, that a " third 
party " can exercise an influence almost equal to that of 
a party in power. To the laborer it demonstrates the 
possibility of improving his own condition even now if 
he will but unite with his fellows. To the socialist 
it proves that a party which demands the social revolu- 
tion has a long struggle ahead of it, but in the meantime 
it obtains incidentally an increasing and striking amelio- 
ration of existing conditions. These are not unimpor- 
tant by-products of the labor movement in politics, for 
that is all they can be called, as the social democracy of 
Germany has never been in power and has never of it- 
self been able to pass a single law. It has rarely col- 
laborated with other parties, and it has been forced during 
the last forty years to be merely an ominous protest, a 
source of real apprehension if not of dread to the German 
government. Without supreme power its final revolu- 
tionary program can, of course, never be fully realized. 
What it has gained is merely the reform of present 
economic conditions. It has made no serious inroads 
upon capitalism, but it has forced capitalism to be more 
just and merciful to the producing masses. In order to 
win from social democracy its adherents, capitalism has 
endeavored to render the party powerless, and has 
given with its own hand, as an indication of what it 
wishes to appear as its native generosity, the social 



30 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

reforms of the last thirty years. The reason why these 
same reforms have not been carried out in England 
and America, or indeed anywhere else, is because the 
working-class has not expressed its will with the same 
unity and solidarity. 

The working-class in Germany knows how to use its 
power in its own original way. Its independence of the 
other political parties, and the fact that the bureaucracy 
has managed thus far to keep it out of power, has forced 
upon it the role of critic. In this capacity it exercises 
an incredible influence. Its minorities in the various 
legislative bodies never allow the parties that rule 
to ignore social, political, and industrial evils. Under 
this unfriendly and relentless eye the parties in 
power do not dare to give franchises, grants, and special 
privileges to private interests. Graft is almost unknown. 
No evil escapes the socialists V no reform satisfies them. 
Their ideals and aims are beyond any immediate attain- 
ment, and national ownership, municipal ownership, 
labor protection, the demolition of slums, the abolition of 
child labor — none of these reforms receive from them more 
than a cold approval. There is always something more 
that must be done, some other grievance to be removed. 
The working-class in Germany is like an awful conscience, 
voicing the evils of society, condemning the acts of the 
powerful, setting forth the ideal of the future. Autoc- 
racy can cripple it, can even render it physically impo- 
tent ; but it knows not how to destroy its spirit. For 
thirty years two great forces, class and mass, have been 
giving battle, each frankly bent upon the other's de- 
struction/ Does any one doubt that that one will conquer 
whose morality is the truest, whose ideals are the highest, 
and whose spirit expresses the faith of the time ? 



CHAPTER II 

THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 

In the Eternal City, in the new and handsome Casa 
del Popolo, the socialists' own meeting-hall, the congress 
of the Italian Socialist Party was in session. Every one 
was alive with excitement, as it had been rumored that 
the party would be split into a thousand fragments. 
The Reformists, led by their able and forceful Turati ; 
the Syndicalists, led by their brilliant, emotional, and 
impractical Labriola ; and the Integralists, led by the 
impressive and not always consistent Ferri, — all were 
there, and lost no time in giving battle. 

It seemed only natural in Rome to be witnessing a 
battle of giants, a turbulent, hero-worshipping populace 
broken into factions, and the fate of one of the greatest 
and noblest nations in the world resting upon the out- 
come. At any rate, as I sat three days in that hall, this 
appeared to be not far from the actual situation. With 
all the lovable qualities ; with a fine and sincere admira- 
tion for power and greatness ; with quick and agile in- 
telligence ; with childlike frankness and honesty ; with 
idealism and splendid emotion, quick to resent, quick to 
forgive ; these men sat together for three days backing 
their leaders like boys with fighting cocks, — apparently 
deciding nothing of importance except not to split, but 
discussing almost everything in the wide world of 
interest. It was a thousand times more engaging than 
the German congress. It was comic, tragic, lyric, and 

3* 



absorbing to watch. At times it was as impressive as 

;i::;:rv n: is brrllinn: is firt— srki . '22222. bit z2.i1 
22222.2: :: ~inr.tr 1.:: bt - ilitrrrtnt 

The r_;:ii-t-:li.5.5 ::in:::: :: :bt Itilltr: rttbtnnr 
a-sttnisbtt mt nisi. _n i.;~~ :s: :':r.' : tb.tr ::itntrv tbt 
s:::i_s: zrrezer: 'is — -.-*- "y triltttt"itn. In I-trtiiv 
tbtrt nrt :t" mtn in me miTtmen: 2. ;: :: tbt ~ : r V - z- 
classw In the Italian assembly there were evidently few 
— b: bit 21: tint 22.12.22. ~ ■ ::',2. tut rtis: it tbt itit- 
rtrts ~ert ~tb it: rr.iny t 22. fnsbiintbly. irtssri 
Ni: :r.i irt :it .22222-. rtrr: Lr:n;i_t. it: TnritL 
"iit: tbty ttii :n ±t 1 : r. tir.tr.: initiitttttis. ': 1: 51 
lis: ~trt rntny ;f me ititrnts trim tbt tnims ::- 
;tt:ir: t s:::tt:ts mt itbtr "irking: rttn s ::tmtrt- 
tions. This is peculiar to the Italian movement. In 
tribiblv n: itber ::imry titt: rvitssti irt tbtrt s: 
22.222. siitisis intuit: :tt smiiirs. sutnnsis iti trti- 
2.22.- "ri:tr5. 1 .22.22 :s; ::t if tbt rt :s: t::t: s::tn- 
ttsts -.22. Entire, tut tisiiy tbt ::rtn:s: 1 rtztir. - i: it s t. 
is a member of the party. As adherents and sympa- 
tbtrtrs :: ::itr.ts. imini: itbtrs. Zt Attn is. tbt r;::s: 
widely iead of the Italian novelists; Ferrero, a social 
~Tt:er :: rrtt: irmntnit: j-rtt. jr'ttrnm. iti risiit. 

its: ttltntti if tbt t : t:s 
vrtb~kr.i~n sutitis: i:i its-ziTtrtr if tbt yz'-:~- ftvtr 
germ; Chiannggi a leading embiyologist ; and Cat- 
ztli tbt rbysinst. 7:ri::i:: is s; rut itbebt. mi I-i- 
briel irAommz 
1: 1 rtttn: tit:: 
iti Znrrt-e bive 
::: 1: itntr 1: 
til it sin is if st 
: 1 tn.y sit tin: 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 33 

sus was made in 1904 to determine the various vocations 
of the members of the party. The results bear out the 
statement that the Italian movement is dominated by 
middle-class elements. It was shown that from 20 to 
30 per cent of the members were industrial workers ; 
from 15 to 20 per cent rural workers; and between 50 
and 60 per cent professional men, merchants, students, 
and small proprietors. 

The electoral strength of the party is, of course, mainly 
among the working-classes, but thus far the great mass 
of Italian working men have been too little educated 
and too little trained in organization to be capable of 
assuming official responsibilities. There are, however, 
exceptions to this general statement. The most power- 
ful labor union in Italy is among the railwaymen. The 
genius of the organization is Quirino Nofri, formerly 
an ordinary railway employee, but at present the head 
of the union as well as member of parliament. A 
strong organization exists also among the dockers. 
The leader is Pietro Chiesa, a powerful and influential 
man who has risen from the docks. He also is now a 
member of parliament. But men of capacity for leader- 
ship and organization are rare among the working- 
classes in Italy. Most of the organizers and agitators 
in the unions are men with university training; and 
Labriola, the leader of the unionists, and the one who 
most bitterly attacks the middle-class control of the 
socialist movement, is a university professor and suc- 
cessful advocate. 

The middle-class character of Italian socialism was 
perfectly illustrated by the reports of the congress pub- 
lished in the official organ of the party, " Avanti." 
After the name of certain speakers was written in 



54 s: ::al:?75 at v-;-v 

parenthesis operaio, "workman." This term of expla- 

ririrn ~ns ::.:/" use: r.s :e~ ~:rking ::_- 
henri inrirrr; :.~e rrnrress. Nevriy a.ll tire speakers 
~ere rniii.e-riiss men :: emerrimii "biiiry inf riien: 
Tney "-ere iem: mri: nni ievrrei. but :heir :;n:rie:e 

ve: :be zrnvress vive :ne :~e :e= 
:hi: mere is srmemirm rmsrvmd in the Tm *•'-.- m: e- 
me:m mri mrimei :ne :: think thm mere mis: :;r.e 
some remarkable and revolutionary changes in the 
::::: he:: re :: ::::. :e::me 2. truiy sr:i-iis: : :- 
vmmmtirm 

Any ::.e. i:~ever. ~h? is in mined :: relieve tii: the 
Italian movement is badly organized will find himself 
mistaken. Although it is one of the youngest move- 
ments in Europe, it has during the last fifteen years 
made wonderful strides toward a compact and power- 
:m mmmimrim b::h mm:m; reisrmts ::: ~-:rk:::r 
men. During the first five years of this century the 
growth has been striking, and in 1906 it numbered 
1250 sections, with over 41,000 members. As in the 
Germm mmement. 2.11 :: the memhers rv; dues rmd 
subscribe to the program and tactics of the party. So 
large a number of pledged men makes therefore a credit- 
.rive s:r:"-inr. mi mieei. vim the emerrim :: I er- 
rnrnk. Beivimm. mm iermmy. me mrmired m : emm: 
is one of the strongest in Europe. It differs from the 
Germm: tmrry in :ne immrmm fermme. Tire mims :: 
:ne tensmms mi minsmim vmrkers. me mmermive 
s::ieries. mm me mher mmeiy er:n:nri: mmmrmrims 
me irmimei iire::iy vi:.i me rmry. F: rinded m they 
hive been, imveiy hy me r:ny Lenders, they ire in 
rir.ms: nii mses remme hrmmhes :■: :i: z :iiri:ii nr; ve- 
in en: 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 35 

The Italian socialist party is one of the few move- 
ments in Europe which have made appreciable headway 
among the peasants. This is a fundamental political 
necessity in Italy, as it is largely an agricultural country 
and no party of any consequence can exist without the 
adherence of the rural workers. The peasant leagues 
or unions are in some respects peculiar to Italy. They 
began to take form about twenty years ago under the 
guidance of the old Garibaldian forces. Even at that 
time they had a political character, but it was largely 
limited to republicanism. In the nineties the peasant 
leagues of Venetia and Emilia developed surprising 
strength as a result of the fearless and indefatigable 
propaganda of Professor Enrico Ferri, who about this 
time threw his entire energies into the socialist move- 
ment. In Emilia the peasants are best organized. The 
unions number at least 70,000 members in this one 
district, and through their support the party has domi- 
nated most of the local governing councils, and has 
returned several members to parliament. From 
Emilia the unions spread throughout the north of 
Italy, until now they number, according to the reports 
of the Bureau of Labor, not less than 220,000 
members. 

All of the peasant leagues have a definite political 
character, and most of them are affiliated directly to the 
political socialist movement ; but their greatest achieve- 
ment has been on the purely economic field. It would 
be impossible to estimate in figures the advantages 
which they have gained for their members. The esti- 
mate, made by one Italian writer, that the peasants 
have benefited to the extent of about $15,000,000 
yearly, is doubtless made upon no very reliable data. 



36 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

These unions have, however, been the backbone of 
most of the discontent existing throughout this section. 
And as hundreds of strikes occur yearly, most of which 
appear to end successfully for the workers, it is not to 
be doubted that these organizations have wrought a 
revolution in rural conditions. 

The unions of the industrial workers, now coming to 
be called " syndicats," after the French word, have also 
a large membership, approximating 400.000. In nearly 
all the main industries the workers have developed 
strong and effective unions, and recently they have 
formed a national body. In about a hundred centres 
the unions meet in the so-called Labor Chambers, 
which are workmen's temples, built as a rule by the 
municipality. In both France and Italy these institu- 
tions are under the semi-official patronage of municipal 
authorities, and in many instances the officials in charge 
are direct employees of the government. Many of these 
halls are handsomely built, with every convenience for 
carrying on the work of the unions ; although it must 
be said that, with the exception of those municipalities 
under socialist control, neither the Italian nor French 
cities desire in the least to promote trade unionism. Both 
governments to a certain extent still look upon working 
men's organizations as little less than criminal, and it is 
partly for the purpose of keeping them constantly under 
police surveillance that they have provided them with 
these general meeting-places. 

Some idea of the popularity of the Italian movement 
can be gathered from a study of its electoral strength. 
The suffrage in Italy is restricted by a literacy test, so that 
only a small proportion of the workers have the right 
to vote. At the present time the suffrage extends only 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 37 

to 7 per cent of the population, while for instance in 
Germany it is enjoyed by 20, and in France by 27 per 
cent. Illiteracy disqualifies a large number of workers 
in the north, and nearly all in the south. Quite natu- 
rally, therefore, the main strength of the party is in the 
north. In Emilia and Venetia the organization is very 
strong. Next comes Piedmont, which has returned as 
many as six socialist deputies to parliament. Lombardy 
is well to the front, and in Central Italy Tuscany has 
a strong organization with a large membership. But as 
one goes further south the movement becomes weaker, 
and with the exception of times of social unrest and 
public agitation, it shows but little life. This is due to 
the fact that the south retains its old feudal characteris- 
tics. There are few industries, and the peasantry is 
among the most abject and illiterate in the world. 

The restricted suffrage, excluding from the ballot 
more than 4,000,000 working men, prevents one from 
obtaining the true measure of the socialists' strength. 
But of those who vote, socialism has the support of one 
out of five ; that is to say, that out of the 1,593,000 votes 
cast at the last election 320,000 persons voted for the 
candidates of the socialist party. The electoral strength 
of the party has grown with each election. In 1892 it 
gained 26,000 votes; in 1895, 76,000; two years later, 
135,000; in 1900, 175,000; and in 1904, 320,000 votes. 
About 100 municipal councils are in the control of the 
socialists, and the group in parliament numbers 25 out 
of 508 deputies. The socialists, by right of electoral 
strength, ought to have not less than 100 deputies, but 
by corruption and ballot manipulation on the part of the 
government the number returned was kept down to one- 
fourth their rightful representation. 



38 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Unlike other political movements, the socialist party 
in each country owns its press. It is supported out of 
party funds, and its policy is controlled by the party 
members. The Italians have five daily and over 80 
weekly papers. Milan, Genoa, Mantua, and Reggio- 
Emilia have dailies. The party organ, " Avanti," directed 
by the central committee, is published at Rome, and 
edited by Enrico Ferri. Although Rome is not in the 
strongest centre of the movement, this journal has a 
daily circulation of over 30,000. Altogether the various 
party papers reach, it is said, no less than 240,000 
readers. The trade union journals issued by the central 
bodies, and by the stronger professional organizations, 
all have a socialist bias. One of the most effective 
papers in Italy is an illustrated comic and satirical 
weekly called "L'Asino." It has a very large circula- 
tion, and is widely read among all classes during times 
of excitement. 

But the propaganda in Italy, like that in France, is 
not mainly carried on by means of newspapers. As a 
rule neither the French nor the Italian workmen read a 
great deal. Few r books are sold directly to the workers, 
and what is called scientific socialism rarely reaches 
them except through short and simply written leaflets 
and tracts. The real weight of the propaganda rests 
upon the speakers. Probably nowhere else can be 
found so large a proportion of brilliant orators and 
propagandists as in the Italian and French movements. 
The political campaigns are stirring, and there are 
always dramatic features which arouse widespread in- 
terest. The population is moved to a pitch of excite- 
ment that often ends in violence. 

Every occasion is made use of to advance the prop- 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 39 

aganda, and the most favorable time to reach the 
working-class is during an industrial conflict. No year 
passes in Italy without serious strikes, which frequently 
end in riot and bloodshed. It is no wonder that vio- 
lence should frequently occur, for in addition to the ad- 
verse economic conditions which drive the people to the 
extreme of hunger and misery, the masses are so ill 
educated, and so emotional in their temperament, that 
when aroused, nothing short of a violent outbreak seems 
to satisfy their spirit of revolt. In all the bread riots, 
strikes, and demonstrations of recent years the police 
and army have ruthlessly and brutally put down the 
people. In one case hundreds of the strikers were 
court-martialled and condemned to imprisonment. In 
1894 Crispi, the Prime Minister, with incredible brutality, 
kept 2000 Sicilians constantly under police surveillance 
in the misery of "forced domicile." 

Often in Italy the stupidity of the police provokes riots 
which under a wiser administration would never happen. 
A writer in " Le Mouvement Socialiste," describing the 
"Massacres of Class in Italy," gives an illustration 
of the manner in which these tragedies sometimes 
occur. It often happens that a labor exchange organ- 
izes a fete of agricultural laborers, which may also offer 
the occasion for a collective protest against those held 
responsible for an odious and heavy local tax, The 
crowd peacefully promenade the streets, and then be- 
fore separating halt at the principal square in order to 
listen to a few words of encouragement from one of the 
comrades. The peasant who speaks is ill educated, and, 
in expressing the sentiments which surge from his heart, 
may in his ignorance show little regard for the conven- 
tions and exigencies of the law. The police officer, 



40 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

considering the public order menaced, commands the 
crowd to disperse and the peasant to cease his oration. 
The crowd protests, and, instead of dispersing, gathers 
round the orator. This forms a pretext for the guardian 
of the law to order his men to fire. At the first volley 
the crowd flies, terror-stricken. Some are killed, some 
are wounded; and as for the " agents of order," not a 
single one has received a scratch. 

It is unquestionable that a large part of the influence 
of socialists among the working-classes of Italy is due 
to this sort of stupidity on the part of the government. 
Perhaps the revolutionary tradition has made the upper 
classes fear the masses ; perhaps it is that they do not 
understand the workers, and that after brutalizing them 
by oppression and the refusal of adequate education, 
the gulf between the classes has been so widened that 
hatred, suspicion, and fear are the only sentiments that 
can exist between them. In any case socialism has 
taken hold of the Italian masses in a way that cannot 
be paralleled in many other countries. If socialism 
among the working-classes in Italy does not always rep- 
resent a conscious, thoughtful, and determined move- 
ment for the attainment of a definite end, it at any rate 
represents a spirit of revolt which is in some respects 
infinitely more dangerous to the whole capitalist regime. 

In considering the Italian movement one must always 
bear in mind the history and tradition of Italy. It has 
ever been a land of conspiracy, revolution, and guerilla 
warfare. "The psychology of Italy," an Italian has 
said, " permits a vehement tendency to murder. This 
form of crime is only rarely disclaimed by the national 
morale ; it is often glorified ; and many of our moralists 
admit that the assassination of a compatriot sometimes 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 41 

resolves itself into a duty to the community." The his- 
tory of all its political struggles, of all its uprisings 
against oppression, shows a tendency to run to extreme 
violence, even under the guidance of humanitarians 
such as Mazzini, Garibaldi, or the present-day socialist 
leaders. It should also be borne in mind that the 
Italians were among the first in Europe to accept the 
anarchist views of Bakounine. His doctrines appealed 
to the Italian mind as they appealed to the Russian 
mind, because the hatred of existing institutions was so 
great that anything short of pan-destruction seemed 
merely toying with the misery of the people. In the old 
International, the Italian section represented strongly 
the anarchist tendency, and until as late as 1882 the 
anarchists played a more important role than the so- 
cialists in the working men's movements of Italy. 

In the year 1882 a new weapon was put into the 
hands of the Italian working-class by the extension of 
the electoral franchise. This act converted many of the 
leaders, among others Andrea Costa, who presided over 
the Rome congress, from the anarchist to the parlia- 
mentary method. In 1885 another of the many fruit- 
less attempts to organize the Italian workmen took 
place and a working men's party was founded in Milan 
with over 40,000 members. The organization had not 
yet learned the use of the ballot, and it did little more 
than encourage violence. Anarchist leadership again 
destroyed the movement, and in 1886 the party was dis- 
solved by prefectoral decree. 

Five years later Signor Turati founded a weekly re- 
view, called the " Critica Sociale." He was a wealthy 
lawyer, a thoroughgoing Marxian, a brilliant thinker, 
with scholarly training. He soon exercised an enormous 



42 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

influence throughout the north of Italy. His review was 
far over the heads of the working men, but his influence 
among university men, lawyers, doctors, and the intel- 
lectual class generally was so great that within a few 
years many of the most brilliant of the young men 
openly supported the socialist cause. In the same year 
a conference was held at Milan, and a new laborers' 
party was organized. For the first time in the history 
of the working-class movement anarchists were excluded. 
The party adopted a program, and adhered definitely to 
the political method. This was the beginning of the 
present-day movement. It is evident that it did not 
take Italy by storm, as Turati, in his report to the inter- 
national congress at Zurich in 1893, stated that condi- 
tions favorable to socialism had but lately developed in 
Italy, and although there was hope for its future, at pres- 
ent it was somewhat meagre and wanting in vitality. In 
fact he thought that for all practical purposes it might 
be said to be non-existent. 

However, from this period on everything favored 
the rapid growth of socialism. The adoption of a legal 
and definitely political method put the governing author- 
ities at a disadvantage in dealing with the new move- 
ment. Their fear, however, of the labor party was not 
less great. Under Crispi, the movement felt in all its 
branches the effect of his policy of repression and reac- 
tion. He charged socialism " with raising the right of 
spoliation to a science," and he accused it of plotting to 
surrender Sicily to France. His fear of the movement 
became a mania, and he undid himself in his wild frenzy 
to destroy it. His brutal oppression, his use of police 
and soldiery, his imprisoning of the republicans and 
radicals as well as socialists, brought all the advanced 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 43 

parties together; and, laying aside differences, electoral 
agreements were finally consummated. 

It is not too much to say that all disinterested and 
patriotic Italians were, in the nineties, ready to wel- 
come a new party. The old political parties were in 
decay, eaten through with corruption. The idealism 
which had brought them into existence was dead. The 
political history of the period shows that instead of 
moral enthusiasm, there was widespread intrigue. Cor- 
ruption was on a par with our own. Political jobbery 
was universal — much as it is in New York or Chicago. 
The old parties, and nearly all of the old leaders, were 
involved. There were bank scandals like our insurance 
scandals ; there were franchise thieves and bribers of 
legislatures. The Mafia and Comorra were political 
machines similar in some respects to Tammany Hall, 
in others to Monk Eastman's gang. The police officials 
were in league with criminals, and all that was vicious 
in Italian life was dominant. The thieves at the top 
were prosperous and arrogant — the masses underneath 
misgoverned, oppressed, and starving. When their 
misery became unbearable, and they quarrelled with 
their employers, they were shot down as our workers 
are in Colorado. 

In the midst of such conditions the people looked to 
the socialists. Their leadership was disinterested and 
capable, their principles high and aims lofty ; and it was 
not unnatural that they should attract that idealism 
so characteristic of the Italian people. Bolton King 
and Thomas Okey say in their interesting volume on 
"Italy To-day": "Alone among Italian parties the 
socialist movement stood boldly for purity of public life, 
and while well-meaning men of Right and Left touched 



44 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

corruption with a trembling hand, the socialists smote 
and spared not. To the best and most thoughtful of 
the educated middle classes it appealed through its high 
idealism, its call to intellect, its protest against the bar- 
renness of public life, its splendid campaign against 
evil in high places." 

From this time on the socialist movement, through 
its representatives in the chamber, exercised an almost 
dominant influence in Italian political life. It began 
with a program of economic and social reforms, and 
while it has never ceased to draw the attention of all 
Italy to evil economic conditions, it has been forced to 
occupy itself mainly with purely political questions. 
The time was ripe for reform ; party machines had to be 
overturned; corruption both in private business and 
public "life had to be exposed ; and it was but natural 
that the socialist party should throw itself with fervor 
into the reform movement. In their struggle against 
corruption, the leaders have come to occupy a position 
similar to that of a middle-class opposition party ; and 
their alliances with the advanced elements of the bour- 
geois have served to obliterate the class lines which are 
really the basis of the party's program and the reason 
for its existence. In its engaging work of political re- 
form the socialist part}- has to a certain extent overlooked 
its fundamental purpose. 

During this period economic discontent grew apace. 
Italy is the land of strikes and the home of misery. 
Industrial conditions are intolerable, and the people 
surfer. The masses are in favor of political reform, 
but hunger is always there; and if the political party 
and parliamentary method will not bring economic re- 
form, they will abandon it for the old revolutionary 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 45 

methods of the sixties and seventies. In the last few 
years the new revolutionary weapon, the General Strike, 
has been resorted to again and again. In 1904 the 
workers were stirred to intense indignation by the mas- 
sacre of the striking miners at Buggeru, and at a great 
and solemn meeting at Milan they declared for the gen- 
eral strike. The central committee, realizing the neces- 
sity for preparation, asked for a postponement, and 
invited the workers to hold themselves ready in case of 
another massacre. This was not long in coming. At 
Castelluzzi, in Sicily, a troop of carbineers broke into a 
meeting of the peasants' league, and tried to seize the 
papers and arrest the secretary. The members protested 
energetically, and the soldiers opened fire. On receipt 
of the news of this outrage the central committee gave 
the order for the general strike. The solidarity of the 
working-class was perfect, and in 900 communes, in- 
cluding all the large cities, industry was at a standstill. 
Although the strike lasted but two or three days, it 
struck terror to the heart of the bourgeois. 

At some demonstrations provoked by the insupport- 
able misery of the people, massacres again took place 
in the early part of 1906, and the socialist deputies de- 
manded a government inquiry with a view to fixing the 
responsibility and punishing those responsible. The 
labor chambers were asked by referendum to proclaim 
another general strike, but there was only a minority in 
favor, and the central secretaries resigned. However, 
several days later a strike at Turin resulting in blood- 
shed aroused universal indignation. The socialists re- 
newed their demand in parliament, and the government 
refusing, they resigned and appealed to the country. 
At the same time at Bologna, Milan, Ferrara, Ancona, 



a6 socialists at work 

Livorno, and afterward at Rome, the general strike 
was proclaimed. The bourgeois, less frightened than 
in 1904, attempted to retaliate with an absurd voluntary 
police force. The strike, however, w r as not so effectual, 
and ceased everywhere in three days, leaving among 
the bourgeois a profound rancor against the prole- 
tariat. Many of the well-to-do left the socialist party, 
and the leaders, who had for some time been at odds, 
began to quarrel among themselves more intemperately 
than ever. Labriola, the leader of the syndicats, 
accused the party of being dominated by middle-class 
elements, and voiced his despair of the parliamentary 
method. Turati condemned the violence of the strikers, 
and spoke of their leaders as anarchists. Ferri took a 
middle ground and strove with might and main to re- 
establish harmony. 

It is not for me to take sides in this great battle of 
tendencies and personalities, and without doing so it is 
nevertheless fair to say that Labriola' s criticisms have 
some justification ; for while it is unquestionably true 
that men of the exploiting and professional classes can 
be convinced of the necessity for socialism, they can 
only most rarely appreciate the proletarian feeling or 
unreservedly sympathize with its inevitable and irresist- 
ible revolt. In other words, they are likely to be un- 
consciously philosophic about its progress and willing to 
wait the working out of a long evolutionary process. 
This at any rate seems to be true of Italy, and their 
effort to throw on others the entire responsibility for 
the strikes shows that however good socialists they may 
be they are extremely sensitive when accused of vio- 
lence. But whether or not the movement in Italy is to 
continue indefinitely to be led by professionals and in- 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 47 

tellectuals, it is certain that for some time the workers 
have been chafing under the serene parliamentary 
methods of their middle-class leaders. 

In the midst of this general state of unrest, the con- 
gress at Rome was held. I was not surprised that it 
proved a battling of personalities, even more than a 
battling of ideas. To be sure, each of the three " great 
men " represented a certain tendency, but hero-worship 
and personal admiration swayed the judgments of the 
congressists almost as much as the tendencies to which 
they adhered. At any rate it seemed to me a fair infer- 
ence, if not quite just, when an opposition paper desig- 
nated the tendencies of the party as Turatist, Ferrist, 
and Labriolist. But this criticism is not the whole 
truth, as unquestionably Turati and Labriola, in their 
widely separated doctrines and tactics, and Ferri, in 
his eclecticism, typify the various tendencies which 
exist in the Italian movement. 

Turati and his followers are reformists. Without 
agreeing to all their enemies have to say about them, it 
must be granted that they are frankly and openly pure 
opportunists, working hand in hand with the advanced 
Radicals and Republicans. I think they are fearful of 
the proletarian feeling. Their main effort is directed 
toward obtaining certain political reforms, and a grad- 
ual amelioration in the condition of the masses. Turati 
honestly and bravely stated the difference between' his 
faction and that of the Syndicalists. " The conflict is 
not only a question of etiquette, it is at the same time in 
ideas, in sentiments, in action. Between the bourgeois 
parties there is not a hostility so great or so violent as 
that which separates us from the Syndicalists, in spite 
of the soft lie of sweet fraternity in our party.' ' This is 



48 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

certainly meant to be unequivocal, and it is. Turati 
thinks the Syndicalists are anarchists, at least in ten- 
dency, and he expresses himself with his admirable and 
characteristic frankness. He is absolutely honest and 
sincere, so that even those who differ from him strongly 
in opinion are forced to admire him. He is the ablest 
man among the members of the party because he has 
the clearest and most logical mind. He is a keen and 
powerful debater, never leaving the field of pure and 
careful reasoning. He apparently has no desire to 
sway the emotions, and his ability in critical and logical 
debate is, although used for a different tactic, similar in 
quality to that of Bebel in Germany, or Jules Guesde 
in France. Turati is an incorrigible reformist — in 
other words, a logical reformist, and arguing from that 
basis he is clear, consistent, and courageous. His oppo- 
nents think he should leave the party or be expelled, as 
his views are those of John Burns and of Millerand. 
At least from the socialist point of view, one must so 
consider them ; and if the socialist party were as un- 
compromising and the working-class as self-reliant in 
Italy as it is in France, or even in England, Turati 
would be faced with the same situation that confronts, 
in these countries, men of similar views. 

Ferri is almost an exact counterpart of Turati. He is 
an emotional and powerful orator of the ordinary type. 
He is a man of good phrases, of epigrams, and generali- 
ties. He is eclectical, and a harmonizer, often regardless 
of violent contradictions. He considers that socialist 
parties must everywhere have their advanced revolu- 
tionary tendencies, as expressed by the Syndicalists, and 
their slow-moving, timid, and compromising tendencies, 
as expressed by the Reformists. In other words, the 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 49 

party must always have, in parliamentary phraseology, 
a left wing and a right. It is the role of the Integralists 
to sit in the centre, and to harmonize the two extremes. 
Any one can see what a difficult position this is to fill, 
and Ferri is attacked by both extremes for holding this 
middle ground, and for his unwillingness to support 
either the logic of the Syndicalists, or that of the Re- 
formists. Labriola thinks integralism only a veil for 
those who are secretly Reformists, while Turati is im- 
patient with it for not supporting the reformist position, 
and thus enabling his section to adopt a consistent re- 
form program upon which to stand before the country, 
and upon which the party could fight unitedly in parlia- 
ment. 

Opposed to both the Reformists and the Integralists 
are the Syndicalists. What their exact opinions are, it 
was impossible to gather from the congressional pro- 
ceedings. They had few representatives, and I must 
think that the views Labriola gave as those of his fac- 
tion were only his own served up as syndicalism. With 
a brilliancy not exceeded, with a handling of facts and 
theories that was truly remarkable, and with fearlessness 
and power, this very extraordinary young man presented 
his case. It created a tremendous sensation, and as it was 
he who forced the fighting during the entire congress, it 
is only just that I should speak at greater length of his 
personality and views ; although I am bound to think 
that the enthusiasm which he invoked was not so much 
because of his thought as because of the revolutionary 
spirit, and the superb feeling that characterized his 
address. 

It may be that Arturo Labriola, if he did not express 
the workmen's thought, fairly well expressed their revo- 



50 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

lutionary feeling, in that he seems to be going through 
a crisis of thought which may lead him, as it may 
lead them, to anarchism. But whether considered as 
a socialist or as an anarchist, Labriola cannot be ex- 
plained. At present he is illogical and contradictory 
both in his thought and in his activity. But with all that 
to be said against him, he has rare personal magnetism. 
I sat for three hours listening to him, and I may say that, 
with few if any of the ordinary gifts of the orator, he is 
the most thrilling speaker I have ever heard. At times 
his discourse was like organ music, rising and falling 
with a peculiar harmony. His climax was not a usual 
one ; it was climax upon climax until at last one seemed 
to burst in profusion, like a giant sky-rocket. And then 
at times his oratory was disjointed and discordant. It 
made one think of Browning's line, " Why rushed the 
discords in but that harmony should be prized ?" It was 
a most remarkable speech — apparently the sincere and 
frank expression of his own soul. He kept nothing 
back. He was illogical but conscientious, and he seemed 
not to realize that his own individual crisis in thought 
was hardly to be presented as syndicalism. 

The battle between the tendencies was not to Labriola, 
but he won a personal triumph that was immense. The 
various factions had again and again interrupted him 
during his address. At times it looked as if there might 
be a riot, and several times during his discourse, the 
chairman could not maintain order for many minutes 
together; but at the end of his address, and after a 
superb peroration, the entire audience rose to its feet 
and applauded with all its power, while those near the 
platform ran forward to embrace and kiss him. 

I can only briefly sum up his views. He spoke in. 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 5 1 

favor of a vigorous campaign of propaganda against 
clericalism, against the monarchy, and against the mili- 
tary. He spoke disparagingly of parliamentary methods, 
and confessed his reliance upon the economic organiza- 
tion of the workers for the important changes that were 
to come. He criticised the leadership of the party as 
being middle class, and as forgetting its reason for 
being, and its direct responsibility to the working-class. 
He said Intellectualism ought not to be parasitic. It 
ought to be put at the service of socialism. It ought to 
illuminate the way in advance of the socialist cause. He 
thought it unimportant whether or not the laborer 
were forced to work an hour or so more in the day. " Let 
him work," he shouted ; " society will enrich itself there- 
by, and we will find a far greater harvest when the day 
of our victory and ascension shall come." He said it 
was folly to hope for the transformation of society by 
parliamentary action alone, and that " the emancipation 
of the workers can only be accomplished by the workers 
themselves, and not by their proxies, by some persons 
interposed." The nationalization of public utilities was 
to him unimportant because the state exploited the 
workers quite as mercilessly as private capitalists. So- 
cialism of the state was only another word for capitalism 
of the state. 

After disposing of the various methods advocated by 
socialists of whatever view to improve the condition of 
the proletariat, he asked: "What then remains, what is 
there essential and truly revolutionary in socialism, if it is 
not the free effort of the working-class, the economic or- 
ganization of the proletariat upon the field of the class 
struggle, the grouping of the workers in their trades, 
federated amons: themselves for their common interests 



52 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

and preparing themselves to take one day into their own 
hands the direction of social work. ... In order to arrive 
at this result political action can only play a secondary 
role ; it is the general strike which is the decisive weapon, 
the supreme means of emancipating the working-class." 
This is the view of a new school rising in Europe. 
Sorel and Lagardelle in France, and Leone and Labriola 
in Italy, are doing a very useful work in forcing the 
purely parliamentary socialists to recognize more than 
they otherwise would the value and indeed the necessity 
of strong organization among the working-classes on the 
economic field ; but the socialists of the United States, 
and England especially, know how absurd it is to consider 
this the sole means necessary by which to combat capital- 
ism. It is common knowledge with us that the union 
movement is revolutionary and often violent in the early 
stages of its development. Wherever the organizations 
are weak, they are the most combative. As they grow 
more experienced and develop strength, they become 
more careful about risking defeat by hastily considered 
or ill-advised action. The trade union movement in 
Italy is still in its early stages, and while the members 
are mostly socialists, the leaders may become, as many 
of our trade union socialists of the seventies and eighties 
became, extremely careful not to endanger the funds and 
standing of their economic organizations. The English 
and American unionists, after a long period of syndical- 
ism, are now beginning to realize that they have left un- 
developed and unused one of their most effective weapons 
of defence and of aggression ; namely, their political 
power. It will therefore be a cause for profound regret 
if the Italians discard this method of emancipating the 
working-class upon the assumption that they can gain 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 53 

more by the development and use of their economic or- 
ganizations. Neither the one nor the other method alone 
suffices for this tremendous task. What is needed is a 
more comprehensive organization of the workers, both 
in the trade unions and in the branches of the party. 
To change from the parliamentary to the syndicalist 
method, or vice versa, can have but little effect, except 
to cripple the working-class in the midst of a difficult war. 

The whole congress was occupied in this struggle be- 
tween the three factions. In the voting Labriola was badly 
defeated by a union of the Reformists and the Integralists. 
The movement goes on united, if unity is possible where 
there is so much ill-feeling between the factions. How 
much it is a mere unity of form, without a unity of spirit, 
one cannot say. Certainly the divisions between the 
factions seem very deep and forbidding. They make 
one feel grateful that one is not an Italian socialist. 
One would not know what to do or whom to support. 
This must be a very common feeling among the Italians, 
with the effect that their work must be, to a certain ex- 
tent, weak, uncertain, and halting, all of which is espe- 
cially deplorable for Italy. The working-classes there, 
perhaps more than anywhere else in Europe, need the 
training and development that come from participation 
in organizations of their own. They need its steadying 
influence, and the education it gives in self-reliance. 
They need both their economic organizations and their 
political organizations, and anything which retards the 
growing and strengthening of these resources of the 
working-class of Italy does it a very bad turn. 

To one sitting in that hall, not in the heat of a fac- 
tion or under the spell of a personality, the spectacle 
was of a kind to make one despair. At the end all was 



54 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

tumult. There were shouts, congratulations, exultations 
— there were the victors and the vanquished. The 
congress of the Italian Socialist Party was another 
thing of the past in the city of things of the past. It 
was not without a feeling of relief that one left the new 
temple to walk through the wastes and ruins of the old. 
From the terrace of the senatorial palace one sees the 
white, deserted temples of a thousand gods, vast wastes 
of the precious, unrewarded, and gigantic labor of the 
poor. By the love and labor and hope of the disinher- 
ited the temple of Saturn was built, and that of Castor, 
and that of Vesta, and that of Futura, and that of Con- 
cord. The arch of Septimius was their labor, and so 
too were the towering arches of the basilica of Constan- 
tine. And to-day it is but a step, as it was three thou- 
sand years ago, from this spacious, but now dead city 
into the narrow alleys of the living poor. It was the 
w r ork of the poor. It was they who had built it all. 
They had cut its marble from the hills, dug the trenches, 
laid the foundations. Every wall, column, arch, they had 
put in place. The city of palaces, of baths, of circuses, 
of arches, of temples, they had built again and again. 
They had laid its pavements and adorned its streets 
with exquisite beauty. They had built palaces for their 
tyrants, for their kings, emperors, and senators, for 
their priests, for their demagogues, and for the mis- 
tresses of their tyrants, and emperors, and priests, and 
demagogues. But for themselves they had in B.C., and 
they have in a.d., hovels and alleys. 

Is this new movement going to repeat the old, old 
story? That is hardly conceivable ; but in Italy, instead 
of union, education, and organization, the party brings 
to the proletariat the quarrels, tendencies, hair-split- 



THE ITALIAN SOCIALIST PARTY 55 

tings, and personalities of a few middle-class intellec- 
tuals. It is, I fear, a party of Roman patricians, with 
the votes of a restive, revolutionary proletariat. Is this 
too harsh ? Perhaps it is. It may be that these impres- 
sions of the Italian socialist movement are all wrong, 
and no one more than I can hope that they are; for 
Italy needs socialism as much as any land under the 
sun. It is her only hope ; and I should think that any 
man with heart would be a socialist in Italy. The mis- 
ery is so great there that even the hardest must be 
touched. I think of one valley, so smiling, so beautiful, 
with a thousand terraced gardens on its exquisite slopes, 
under skies that enrapture the soul ; and with men, 
women, and children whose forms and faces lacerate 
the heart. After one sight of that humanity, there are 
no more skies, no gardens, no valleys, no hills. I would 
rather live forever in Dante's hell than there among my 
wretched human brothers. Great God, is not the Val- 
ley of Tirano all the school Italy needs for socialism ? 
Are not the streets and alleys about the temple, living, 
and about the Coliseum, dead, all that is needed for prop- 
aganda ? The faces one sees there are the faces with 
big eyes and sunken cheeks. They are faces that, once 
seen, can never be forgotten. They are with you when 
you eat, and your food sickens you. They are with 
you when you dress, and your clothes become hateful to 
you. They are with you when you try to sleep, and the 
night haunts you. 

It may be that some men in Italy can close their 
hearts to these faces and eyes. It may be that some 
men must do what St. Francis did — give all, absolutely 
all. But is it possible that any one with compassion 
can know and see and feel, and not be a revolutionist ? 



CHAPTER III 

THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 

The German congress was an impressive gathering 
of intelligent and wide-awake men. The Italian c6n- 
gress was full of excitement and pyrotechnics. The 
French congress, held at Limoges, in the heart of the 
great potteries, was impressive, interesting, and also 
not without its fireworks. The delegates thought with 
a thoroughness not inferior to that of the Germans, 
and debated with a vivacity and charm not exceeded 
by the Italians. They were men from the workshops, 
men from the study, men from the "sanctums" of the 
great journals ; and there were there men of inter- 
national reputation in science, economics, and politics. 
The congress was therefore not so exclusively working- 
class as the German, nor so middle-class as the Italian. 
Those who were Intellectuals took their inspiration from 
the people, and those who had come from the work- 
shops were as capable as the Intellectuals of thought 
and of leadership. 

The movement in France is superb. It has all the 
necessary qualities and elements of a great party. If 
it has its opportunists, it has also its impossibilists. If 
it has its cautious ones, it has also its impetuous ones. 
If it has its pure theorists, it has also its thorough 
practicians. And the balance is admirable. But it 
is not the balance which comes from the dominance 

56 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 57 

of one powerful mind. Criticism runs high ; each 
tendency is represented by some mind and voice of a 
high order. And a tactic or a policy which runs the 
gantlet of the keen intelligence of men with such 
different points of view is pretty certain to be sound. 

For the first time I have seen some good resulting 
from divisions among socialists. The French socialists 
are to-day united, but for thirty or more years they 
have been separated into various groups, sometimes 
attacking each other, often competing with each other, 
and at times maligning each other. Again and again 
they have achieved a sort of unity, only to break again 
into bitterly antagonistic groups. Schism after schism 
occurred, and the weary years of propaganda dragged 
on, without that unity of the proletariat which was the 
watchword and fundamental doctrine of all their teach- 
ing. There was a bad side to these divisions which no 
one could wish to minimize, but at least they had one 
good result. Great men were produced, — skilful de- 
baters, indefatigable propagandists, powerful polemical 
writers. And now that unity has come, and all the 
men of the old groups are fighting together for the 
common end, the French party has in its fold a re- 
markable number of brilliant and capable men. Each 
of the four or five old factions has contributed its quota 
of extraordinary men. Some of the groups had drawn 
to themselves the ablest minds from among the workers ; 
others had drawn from the intellectual proletariat men 
of exceptional ability ; and all together contribute now 
to the united party the valuable results of their labors. 

But what a history the French movement has for 
discord and division ! France is the birthplace of 
nearly all the idealism that gave rise to the modern 



58 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

movement. Ever since the great revolution, the phi- 
losophy of socialism has fascinated some of the most 

brilliant minds in France ; but the fulness of their in- 
spiration and the variation in their tendencies have 
prevented them from establishing one school. It is not 
strange, therefore, that among a people so enamoured 
of ideas and ideals, in a country where men register 
their convictions in blood, in a nation that has a revo- 
lutionary tradition of which every child is proud, it 
has been only through infinite toil and anguish that 
coherence in organization and doctrine has been brought 
into being. 

In France socialism often means revolution, and 
the most widely varying doctrines, from extreme an- 
archism to extreme statism, are frequently embraced 
within its scope. Before the insurrection of 1871 the 
old International exercised a powerful influence in 
France, and included within its organization nearly 
every phase of socialist thought and revolutionary 
action. The Proudhonian anarchists, with their program 
of decentralization, anti-parliamentary action, and the 
abolition of ail forms of government, together with a 
belief in the efficacy of cooperation and mutual aid among 
the workers to achieve the complete emancipation of 
the proletariat ; the Blanquists, with their conspiratory 
methods of taking the state by surprise and wresting 
it from the hands of the capitalists ; and a small group 
of Marxists, who believed in definitely organized po- 
litical action by the working-class ; were all carrying 
on a feverish agitation, which consisted almost as much 
of internal warfare as it did of active efforts against 
capitalism. For a period of over ten years these va- 
rious factions carried en their strife. They had only 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 59 

one thing in common, and in that they were also in 
agreement with the republicans of that period — they 
were all against the empire. As the social unrest 
developed, and the masses became more and more 
agitated and revolutionary, one of those periods of ex- 
plosive energy and violence arrived tp give an outlet 
to the growing class antagonism, and in 1871 a terrible 
struggle between the capitalists and the workers broke 
forth in all its fury. For a moment the workers were 
victorious; then came defeat, followed by wholesale 
massacres. 

At almost the same time the International, torn by 
dissensions after a vain attempt to harbor all revolu- 
tionary elements, was abolished by Marx. Its warring 
factions were broken and dispersed and their revolu- 
tionary force spent in the upheavals of Paris and 
Spain. With the crushing of the Commune nearly all 
the leaders were forced to leave France, and every 
vestige of their organizations was shattered. Blanqui, 
that inveterate revolutionist, was again in prison, Vail- 
lant and many of his friends were in exile in London, 
and the anarchist leaders in Switzerland. The work- 
ers were left without leadership, and the brutal methods 
by which the government had put down their uprising 
left them broken and cowed. 

But the irresistible impulse of working men to or- 
ganize did not long remain quiescent. As early as 
1872, a few workers came together for concerted action. 
They disclaimed all revolutionary views ; nevertheless, 
the government dispersed them. Again, three years 
later, in Paris, the representatives of various groups 
came together to establish a working men's movement. 
They all agreed that it should be exclusively working- 



60 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

class, and that politicians, theoreticians, and revolu- 
tionists should not be admitted. They expressed 
themselves in favor of trade union action, and the 
development of cooperatives. They wished solely, 
they declared, to modify the present state of society 
in a way more equitable for the workers ; and they 
avoided with care all revolutionary and socialist utter- 
ances. The revolutionists in exile read with amazement 
the declaration of the congress, and issued manifestoes 
condemning the conservatism of the workers. To all 
appearances the proletariat had abandoned all radical 
views, and the moderates and the republicans, who 
were leading the movement, intended to prevent the 
revolutionists from gaining control of it again. 

At this time there appeared in France, Jules Guesde, 
one of the most remarkable personalities in the socialist 
movement. He had returned from exile in Switzer- 
land and Italy. Before the Commune he had collabo- 
rated actively with some other revolutionary journalists 
in attacking the empire, and under the patronage of 
several men who later were the leaders in that insur- 
rection, he founded a paper called "The Rights of 
Man." When Guesde was twenty years old, he so 
outraged the imperial regime that he was condemned 
to six months in prison. On the famous fourth of 
September, without knowing what had happened in 
Paris, he marched with a small group of republicans 
upon the prefecture of Montpellier and captured it, 
and then after the insurrection he was condemned to 
five years. Instead of going to prison he left France, 
and during his exile at Geneva he became an active 
socialist, and assisted there in creating a section of the 
International and in founding a daily paper. He then 




Jules Guesde. 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 6 1 

became a wandering agitator, passing through all the 
industrial centres of Italy, carrying on a ceaseless 
propaganda. By word and pen he attacked the present 
order with bitterness and fearlessness. Often hungry, 
in rags, and homeless, he suffered privations which 
would have killed any man without his indomitable 
will-power. Threatened for a time with tuberculosis, 
he had to go to southern Italy, but as soon as his five 
years' exile was over he returned to France. 

But while abroad Guesde had been schooled in the 
thought, tactics, and language of Marxian socialism, 
and when he returned, he had a far different conception 
of revolutionary methods than he had had when he 
left. The brilliant example of the German organization 
was before him, and he set out to capture the French 
working-class movement and organize it into a definite 
political party. In 1877 ^he established "L'Egalite" 
to sustain his views, and in addition to his own editorial 
work he wrote for two journals with a similar tendency. 
Along with some other Marxists he gave battle to the 
anarchists and the insurrectionists. He became the very 
genius of agitation, rushing from one end of France to 
another to carry on his propaganda among the masses, 
and to convert the leaders of the trade union move- 
ment to political action. Guesde's belief as to the neces- 
sity of a violent revolution did not change, but he began 
to realize more and more the futility of insurrection and 
street-rioting. From this time on he appears as the 
most striking figure in French socialism, and while per- 
haps Marxian views have never appealed so completely 
to the French as to some of the other nationalities, it is 
almost entirely due to Guesde that the working-class 
movement has abandoned the old methods and settled 



62 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

down to organized political action founded upon a 
coherent and logical doctrine. 

At the trade union congress held at Lyons early in 
1878, it was decided to organize an international work- 
ing men's congress to be held in Paris the same year 
upon the occasion of V Exposition Universelle. All 
plans were made for it, but the police informed the 
unions that it would not be tolerated, and they aban- 
doned their project. The socialists, under the leader- 
ship of Guesde, decided to ignore the authorities, and 
to proceed with the congress ; and the unions promised 
their support. By this audacious move Guesde and 
his friends appeared before the foreign delegates as if 
they were the leaders of the entire French movement. 
When the congressists came to assemble, they found 
the hall surrounded by police, and the organizers of the 
illegal assembly were arrested. Guesde presented a 
collective defence before the court, but nevertheless he 
and his associates were condemned to six months in 
prison. However, the defence, which was in the nature 
of a manifesto, was circulated throughout France, and 
created a profound sensation. Guesde was soon to be 
in reality the head of the working men's movement. 

During the next few months the agitation was at 
fever heat. The Marxists were fast making converts 
of the leaders, and already several important unions 
had declared for socialism. In October, 1879, a con- 
gress, " ever memorable," as Guesde afterward said, 
was held at Marseilles. Over the door of the hall was 
hung an inscription which foretold the outcome of that 
historic meeting, " The land for the peasant; the tool 
for the laborer; and work for all." The events of the 
past few months had had their effect, and the delegates, 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 63 

caught in the storm of enthusiasm, were ready for revolu- 
tionary action. Even the moderates seemed to have 
given themselves over to the common impulse. The note 
of the gathering was sounded by Jean Lombard, the 
organizing secretary of the congress, who urged that the 
new program ought to show a sensible progress over the 
previous ones ; and he proposed to change the name 
of the gathering to "The Socialist Labor Congress. " 
The proposition was accepted with unanimity. A 
delegate arose to declare that unions have a role to 
play; that is, to be a nursery of revolutionary ideas. 
Another delegate announced the failure of the co- 
operative idea. Fourniere, in a passionate address, 
said that as things were going there would be in ten 
years neither small employers nor proprietors. Two 
classes only w r ould be face to face, the idle rich and 
the poverty-stricken workers. In the midst of the 
general tumult in the congress almost every revolution- 
ary tendency found expression. One of the delegates 
went so far as to exclaim that the only propaganda 
worth while was to declare to the people that " in place 
of capturing the central government it is necessary 
to bombard and destroy it," which showed that if there 
were socialists in the assembly, there were also anar- 
chists. 

But despite the strong revolutionary feeling, no one 
seemed to have a program. It was a golden oppor- 
tunity for the Marxists, for their thought was clear 
and their program definite. It is useless to analyze 
the addresses relative to the constitution of a political 
party. The delegates found themselves in accord, and 
Guesde and Paul Lafargue, the son-in-law of Karl 
Marx, together wrote the program which was adopted. 



64 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

After the confusion of years, from amidst the many 
revolutionary tendencies bequeathed to the French 
working men by the great thinkers of the past, Marxian 
doctrine and tactics had captured the French move- 
ment, and placed it in accord with the other political 
socialist movements then arising in all the neighboring 
countries. 

The following year the congress was held at Havre. 
The republicans, who had launched the movement in 
Paris, in 1875, a few old and rich unions which had joined 
it, and some cooperative societies which had supported 
it, had been surprised at Marseilles, when the socialists 
had taken the congress by storm ; and they decided to 
attend the next gathering solidly organized. The social- 
ists exerted themselves to the utmost to return to the 
congress as many delegates as possible, but when they 
presented themselves, they were refused admission by 
the moderates ; and they retired in a body to assemble 
in an adjoining hall. There were only 57 delegates, 
representing a variety of tendencies, and it seemed as 
if they had been defeated. The moderates appeared to 
be victorious, but they had no faith, no doctrine, no 
ideals, and despite their strength they ceased to exist 
after a subsequent congress a year later. The socialists 
on the other hand stood for what appealed to the French 
working men, and after the Havre congress their in- 
fluence became dominant. 

Socialism began to take hold in France, and there 
collected around the movement Guesde had started 
many brilliant and capable men. The party was united. 
It had a clear and definite program, and in all parts of 
France agitation and organization were making head- 
way. A number of journals were launched, and among 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 6$ 

others " L'Emancipation," edited jointly by Guesde, 
Paul Brousse, and Benoit Malon, the latter a most 
admirable and capable man. The same year parliament 
voted complete amnesty to the militants of the Com- 
mune, and returning from exile they threw themselves 
into various radical movements. A number of them 
followed Clemenceau, who at that time was directing the 
extreme Left, while others founded a new socialist or- 
ganization. J. B. Clement, Jules Joffrin, Jean Allemane, 
and others, affiliated themselves with Guesde and Malon. 
Vaillant, Granger, and others reconstituted a Blanquist 
group. All things seemed to point to the rapid success of 
the socialist movement. 

The elections of 1881 were, however, an immense 
disappointment, and unfortunately served to arouse new 
dissensions. Certain factions of the party attributed 
the failure to the Marxian program of Guesde and his 
friends. They said it was not adapted to the French 
spirit, and was written in a vocabulary little known. 
Besides failing to take account of the traditional 
forms of French thought, it introduced new ideas which, 
it was said, did not appeal to the French working men. 
One of the candidates of the party, Jules Joffrin, altered 
the program to suit himself, and this lack of discipline 
infuriated Guesde. The journal, " L'Emancipation," was 
abandoned, after it had issued twenty-four numbers, 
because of differences between Guesde and Malon. 
Paul Brousse, who was ambitious to lead, and his friends 
undertook to drive Guesde from the movement. Brousse 
in his youth had inclined toward anarchism, and had 
been associated with Bakounine in the work of the 
International. Later he adopted the collectivist posi- 
tion, but he remained a bitter opponent of Marxian 



66 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

tarries, and especiahv of what seemed to hi:::, as it had 
to Bakounine, the dictatorial attitude of some of the 
Marxian leaders. The general dissatisfaction with 
Guesde's leadership gave Brousse an opportunity to 
attack him, and he undertook the battle with almost 
sinister delight. During the next year or so Brousse 
and Guesde spent the force which ought to have been 
given to organization and propaganda in bitter personal 
attacks; and when the next congress of the socialist 
party assembled at St. Etienne in 1882, every one fore- 
saw that it would end in a rupture. Brousse and his 
friends succeeded in their campaign, and Guesde and 
his sympathizers retired from the congress amidst lively 
scenes. At this time the Broussists, or, as they 
called from this time onward, the possibilists, were 
numerous; but their party was loosely organized, and 
with the exception of a few victories in Paris they made 
little impression. Guesde and Lafargue dominated the 
industrial regions of the north, where their adherents 
were active and serious, and it was inevitable that 
Guesde and his followers should, despite their apparent 
defeat, exercise the more powerful influence in the rising 
tide of revolt 

During the eighties and early nineties various attempts 
v.- ere made :y me Gomdims :: re mmtare the trade tmi:r: 
movement. At times they appeared near to success, 
but again and again they were vanquished ; and at last 
the rrade unions and labor exchanges dermiteiy adopted 
an anti-parliamentary attitude. When later " The Gen- 
eral Federation of Labor " was formed, it decided that 
the sole revolutionary means to employ for the emanci- 
pation of labor was the general strike. Guesde has 
never known compromise, and despite the inevitable 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 6j 

tendency of the French masses to violent action, he has 
never wavered in his opposition to the general strike. 
With all the power of his keen and logical mind he con- 
demned and demonstrated the futility of the purely 
economic strife, but without avail ; and finally the main 
body of the union movement passed from under his 
influence. 

It would seem, among such personal and doctrinal 
divisions, that socialism would have had but little chance 
of developing strength ; but what would have made a 
movement impossible in other countries helped the 
movement of France. Nothing interests and attracts a 
Frenchman more than a good fight, whether it be in 
the streets, in the journals, or in the assembly. A cen- 
tury's struggle for liberty has not been without its effect, 
and it is, therefore, a part of the French nature to ad- 
mire individuality. An Englishman or an American 
likes to be in accord with others, and to conform to the 
views of others. A Frenchman prefers to differ, and 
he detests conformity. As a result the various groups, 
with their differences in doctrine, their sectarian schisms, 
and even their violence, drew to themselves adherents, 
all of whom seemed proud to have views that differed 
from those of the other groups ; and no less proud that 
the views of the various socialist groups differed funda- 
mentally from those of the bourgeois parties. In ad- 
dition to this individualism, there is among Frenchmen 
little respect for the definite and detailed organization 
that exists among the Germans. In the old Inter- 
national the Frenchmen were anarchists and supported 
the principles of decentralization and federalization. 
While the Germans, even as outlaws, were secretly 
building up their political organization, the Frenchmen 



68 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

were discussing great ideas, and by the force of thought 
arrived at a solidarity of action that has at times made 
the French movement much more formidable even than 
the German. The German working-classes have few 
dissensions, and for thirty years have worked mostly in 
concert. The French movement is most of the time 
torn by conflicting views, but at rare moments it demon- 
strates a solidarity of action that seems instinctive. 

Despite differences, therefore, French socialism began, 
in the early nineties, to impress itself upon the national 
life. There were no less than five well-organized groups. 
The possibilists were led in two sections, one by Brousse 
/ and the other by Allemane. The collectivists, support- 
ing the Marxian position, were led by Guesde, Laf argue, 
and other doctrinaires. The Blanquists maintained the 
traditions of the old conspirator, and announced them- 
selves ready for revolution. There was still another 
group, the independents, led at that time by Millerand, 
Jaures, and Fourniere. It was composed largely of radi- 
cals, who were beginning timidly to support the socialist 
position. The leaders were of the middle class, and they 
brought into the movement a brilliant coterie of univer- 
sity men, journalists, and students. 

The elections of 1893 proved a striking victory for 
the socialists. Forty deputies were elected to parlia- 
ment upon a collectivist program, and the vote was four 
times larger than that of 1889, amounting in actual 
numbers to nearly half a million. The Guesdists and 
all the other groups had elected their strongest men. 
This unexpected victory led to a kindly feeling that had 
not before existed between the various sections, and in 
order to make their influence as powerful as possible, 
they organized a united socialist group in the chamber. 




Jean Jaures. 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 69 

The work done during the session of 1 893-1 898 was most 
effective. The principles and program of socialism 
were for the first time placed before the entire country 
with clearness and power. Guesde took every oppor- 
tune moment to explain the fundamental doctrines of 
socialism. He developed Marx's view concerning the 
evolution of modern capitalism, and showed how inev- 
itable it was that socialism should follow. He also 
forced upon the chamber a consideration of the eight- 
hour day, and, in connection with a municipal phar- 
macy which the socialists were endeavoring to establish 
at Roubaix, he expounded the whole socialist program for 
municipal reform. Jaures, Vaillant, and the other mem- 
bers of the group developed other phases of the socialist 
position. For the first time a just conception of social- 
ism penetrated into every corner of France. Printed 
in the official journal, these socialist addresses were 
reprinted in the columns of all newspapers and jour- 
nals. Collectivism was decidedly to the front, and every 
editor in France began to discuss the growing power 
and influence of the new movement. 

During this session Jaures was the leader of the par- 
liamentary group. As everything in the early years 
of the movement centred around the personality of 
Guesde, so everything during the last fourteen years in 
France has centred around the personality of Jaures. 
He is without question one of the most powerful per- 
sonalities in the International movement, and one of 
the most popular in France. He is still in the prime 
of life, barely forty-eight years old, although he began 
his parliamentary career over twenty years ago. He is 
of middle-class parents and was graduated with honors 
from the Ecole Normale Superieure. Immediately after 



70 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

graduation he was made professor of philosophy, and 
his studies led him into the field of socialist thought 
The surging life about him, and his natural sympathy 
with the masses, contributed to a growing discontent 
with the quiet of the university, so remote from the 
field of action. In 1885 Jaures stood as candidate for 
parliament, and was elected. He immediately became 
one of the leaders of the radical group, and although he 
did not announce himself as a socialist, he was at that 
time entirely sympathetic. Upon his defeat in the elec- 
tions of 1889 he returned to the university again as 
professor of philosophy. While there, he prepared two 
studies for his doctor's degree, one of which was upon 
Origins of German Socialism. In 1893 he announced 
himself as a socialist candidate, and was elected by an 
enormous majority. He, Millerand, Viviani, and others 
then formed the independent socialist party. 

Jaures is a man of extraordinary capacity for work. 
He has a powerful physique that knows no fatigue. It 
is doubtful if he has an equal as an orator, and his abili- 
ties as a debater are hardly less remarkable. It is in- 
tolerable to him to follow, and while he is modest and 
reasonable, his exceptional mental and physical power 
enables, indeed forces him, to occupy a leading part in 
parliamentary battles. The number of debates in which 
Jaures is engaged is incredible, and alone they would 
occupy the entire time of most men. But he is also 
a student, and his researches into the history cf the 
French revolution are said to be exhaustive, especially 
in their examination of original documents. At the 
same time he is the editor of a daily paper, "L'Huma- 
nite," and there is hardly an issue that does not contain 
a leading article by him. But even these various occu- 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 7 1 

pations do not seem to exhaust the energies of Jaures, 
and few men in the socialist movement carry on through- 
out the country a campaign of propaganda equal to his. 
During elections and in other times of excitement he 
seems able to preach to the whole of France the phi- 
losophy of socialism. He conducts what we should 
call a whirlwind campaign in parliament, in the jour- 
nals, in drawing-rooms, in the streets, and among 
strikers. In the strike that broke out in Carmaux, he 
led the splendid campaign of the strikers, and moved 
the sympathies of all France by his vivid portrayal of 
their conditions. 

Poor old Guesde was jubilant. Sick and exhausted 
after the weary years of persecution and strife, he 
turned to Jaures as the one who should continue his 
work. I am told that one evening, after they had 
dined together, Guesde said: " Jaures, I am tired. I 
have fought as best I could. My strength is gone. 
I have looked for some one else to carry on the battle, 
and now I know you are the one to do it." Guesde is 
not often sentimental, and is rarely carried away by 
enthusiasm, but he thought at that time that the social- 
ists would in a few years control the government 
of France. He could not have foreseen the days of 
trial that were coming to test the movement to its foun- 
dations. Above all he could hardly have realized that 
Jaures and he were to be opponents in one of the 
greatest internal battles the socialist movement has 
known. 

Up to this time Jaures had refused to recognize the 
divisions in the party, and he always spoke for any of 
the groups that desired his services. It is unquestion- 
able that he wished unity, and used his utmost power 



72 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to achieve it. In 1898 the Dreyfus case came to oc- 
cupy the thought of France, and in a flash the nation 
was thrown into tumults of passion. Aside from the 
rights or wrongs of this case at the beginning, when 
it became V Affaire its political importance could 
hardly be ignored by any parliamentary party. The 
Guesdists and a few other socialists looked with alarm 
upon its intrusion into parliamentary life, for to them 
it meant that social reform and socialism were to be put 
in the background, and a purely personal and political 
question forced to the front. They decided, therefore, 
to have nothing whatever to do with the matter. But 
Jaures followed his conviction, and, as we know, led 
one of the most brilliant battles in the history of the 
French chamber. For the moment he seemed to forget 
he was a socialist, and all his energies were diverted 
from the movement and devoted to V Affaire. This 
naturally led to difficulties between him and Guesde, 
who is ever jealous for socialism and knows no diver- 
sion. 

Another event transpired at about the same time that 
led to an open rupture between Guesde and Jaures. 
When Waldeck-Rousseau formed his radical ministry 
in June, 1899, he found the active support of the social- 
ists a political necessity. In order to win it he decided 
to invite one of their most capable members, Millerand, 
to come into the cabinet. Jaures supported the idea, 
and openly urged Millerand to accept the position. At 
the same time General de Gallifet, who had crushed the 
Commune with terrible brutality, was also invited to be 
a member. It was serious enough for a socialist to take 
a position in a non-socialist cabinet, but for one to enter 
along with General de Gallifet stirred the party to its 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 73 

depths. The Guesdists and the followers of Vaillant, 
an old Communard, issued a scathing manifesto, ex- 
cluding Millerand and his defenders from the party. 
The only union then existing between the various 
socialist organizations was in their parliamentary work, 
and the followers of both Guesde and Vaillant retired 
from the parliamentary group. It is possible that Jaures 
had not fully realized the seriousness of Millerand's 
action, and to mend matters he urged the immediate 
necessity of complete union ; and against the will of 
his opponents forced a general congress of all socialist 
bodies. As a result a central body was formed for the 
purpose of carrying out the details of unification ; but 
the diverse elements were too deeply hostile to one 
another, and too much absorbed in the Millerand- Wal- 
deck-Rousseau ministry, to consider calmly proposals 
for unity. The International Socialist Congress, which 
was held in Paris in 1900, was forced by the situation 
in France to give almost its entire time to the " cas 
Millerand." The French socialists held themselves in 
check as best they could during the international gather- 
ing, but a short time later at a national congress, which 
it was hoped would establish unity, the Guesdists and 
the followers of Vaillant left the assembly in a body. 

Indeed, there was no possibility at that time of 
union between the various socialist groups, and during 
the next four or five years the differences between 
them were accentuated. Various efforts were made 
toward conciliation, but without result. Guesde was 
uncompromising, and Jaures was passing through a 
crisis of thought that appeared to lead him farther 
and farther from the accepted political tactics of mod- 
ern socialism. To read the masterly defence of his 



74 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

policy which he delivered at the Bordeaux congress 
of 1903 leads one to the realization that a crisis faced 
not only the French, but the whole international, 
movement. " Guesde is wrong," Jaures said, " in think- 
ing . . . that the state is exclusively a class-state, upon 
which the too feeble hand of the proletariat cannot yet 
inscribe the smallest portion of its will. In a democ- 
racy, in a republic where there is universal suffrage, 
the state is not for the proletarians a refractory, hard, 
absolutely impermeable and impenetrable block. Pene- 
tration has begun already. In the municipalities, in par- 
liament, in the central government, there has begun the 
penetration of socialistic and proletarian influence. . . . 
If it is in part penetrated by this democratic, popular, 
socialist force, and if we can reasonably hope that by or- 
ganization, education, and propaganda this penetration 
will become so full, deep, and decisive, that in time by 
accumulated efforts we shall find the proletarian and 
socialistic state to have replaced the oligarchic and 
bourgeois state, then perhaps we shall be aware of hav- 
ing entered the zone of socialism, as navigators are 
aware of having crossed the line of a hemisphere — 
not that they have been able to see as they crossed it 
a cord stretched over the ocean warning them of their 
passage, but that little by little they have been led into 
a new hemisphere by the progress of their ship. . . . 
I acknowledge that this complicated policy which I am 
trying to formulate before the party, a policy which 
consists in at once collaborating with all democrats, yet 
vigorously distinguishing one's self from them ; pene- 
trating partially into the state of to-day, yet dominating 
the state of to-day from the heights of our ideal — I 
acknowledge that this policy is complicated, that it is 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 75 

awkward, that it will create serious difficulties for us at 
every turn." 

It is difficult indeed to overestimate the dangers 
of this policy. It opens the way to compromise and 
corruption. It destroys the independence of the move- 
ment, and in the end confuses it with the purely politi- 
cal manoeuvring of the other classes. It endangers 
the socialist ideal, and leaves to the movement only 
a policy of petty reform. Although Jaures saw reefs 
ahead and warned Millerand that his policy would allow 
them to abandon all " but what can be easily assimilated 
by the governmental action of to-day," the difficulties 
and dangers did not deter him. These questions, so 
vital to the party, which were only superficially con- 
sidered at the international congress of 1900, were the 
subject of a historic debate at the international meet- 
ing of 1904 at Amsterdam. 

The year before, at the Dresden congress of the 
German party, a great struggle had taken place between 
Bebel and his followers and those who have come to be 
called revisionists. The latter had for several years 
been criticising the uncompromising tactics and political 
methods of the party. They were of the opinion that 
infinitely more could be accomplished by so powerful a 
movement if it compromised with the other political 
parties and participated in governmental power. The 
methods advocated by the revisionists were those used 
by Jaures in France, and their contention seemed to be 
making headway. At Dresden the entire subject was 
examined from both a theoretical and practical stand- 
point. The revisionists were defeated, and what has 
since been known as the Dresden resolution was almost 
unanimously passed. It condemned in the most ener- 



y6 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

getic fashion the revisionist tendencies. It declared 
that the socialists should pursue a policy strictly inde- 
pendent of all other political parties, and should in no 
wise consent to participate in a capitalist government ; 
and it expressed its entire belief in the wisdom and 
utility of the old political tactics which had enabled 
the party to reach its present strength and to accomplish 
so much for the welfare of the working-class. 

Guesde and his followers considered the decision of 
the Germans of supreme importance, and they decided 
to bring the matter before the International for the pur- 
pose of defining the political method of the interna- 
tional movement. Nearly all the great speakers — 
Bebel, Vandervelde, Ferri, Adler, Anseele, Guesde, and 
Jaures — participated in the debate, and what has been 
described as "a titanic international duel" took place 
between Bebel and Jaures. The latter, in a series of 
masterly addresses, defended his position in France. 
He endeavored to prove that it was impossible to have 
the same political tactics in all countries. There was, 
he maintained, an essential difference between the polit- 
ical methods to be adopted in a republic and those 
necessary in an autocracy. He claimed that the very 
helplessness of the German party was adequate reason 
for their adoption of an uncompromising and hostile at- 
titude toward the governing and all other parties. On 
the contrary the power exercised by the proletariat in a 
republic forced it to accept a responsible part in govern- 
ment. Pleading for Millerand and the political policy 
of his section, he claimed they had aided in saving the 
republic to France, they had defeated the reactionary 
bloc, and crushed the conspiracy between caesarism 
and clericalism. He portrayed the advance made in 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY >]>] 

recent years in France toward a system of social legis- 
lation, measures for the protection of labor, and the 
nationalization of public utilities. When he finished, he 
was given an ovation, and shouts of approval came from 
all parts of the hall. 

When Bebel arose, it seemed impossible that he should 
overcome the powerful arguments and torrential elo- 
quence of Jaures. His reply was quiet, logical, and in- 
cisive. He condemned the policy of compromise, and 
showed that the hostile method of his own party had 
gained for the German working men a far greater range 
of social reforms than those existing in France. He 
showed how in France, under the ministry of which 
Millerand was a part, the workmen were intimidated 
and the army used against the strikers in a way never 
done in Germany. While declaring himself a republi- 
can, he demonstrated that whatever political form of 
government existed, the capitalists gained control of it, 
and used it against the interest of the workers. He did 
not deny that Jaures and the French socialists should 
exert themselves to save the republic, or to fight with 
the bourgeois to separate the Church from the State, but 
a collaboration with other parties should be temporary, 
and as soon as the particular battle was over the old 
uncompromising attitude should be resumed. 

It is impossible in a few words to sum up a debate 
which was on both sides succinct and yet comprehensive. 
Hardly a phrase could be eliminated from either address 
without injury to the subject-matter. But the victory 
was to Bebel, and a revised resolution based upon that 
of Dresden was passed almost unanimously. Jaures 
fought brilliantly, and defeated, he was loyal. He ac- 
cepted the decision of the congress, and submitted 



78 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

himself to that discipline which is so striking a charac- 
teristic of the socialist movement. Upon his return to 
France union was established, and since that time it 
has not been seriously in danger. Jules Guesde had 
in 1879 f° rce d German political tactics upon the French 
movement. Twenty-five years later, he repeated his 
extraordinary achievement. 

With this rapid historical survey, let us go back to 
the Potteries, where the united party assembled in con- 
gress. It was held in a big, barnlike structure, which 
belonged to the Cooperative Union of Limoges, and 
-which under ordinary circumstances served as a great 
storehouse for their supplies. Two splendid banners 
were displayed above the platform. One bore the 
motto of socialism, and its rallying cry throughout the 
world, which carries in its five words both the philos- 
ophy and the program of the contemporary struggle 
for freedom: " Working Men of all Countries, Unite !" 
The other, a banner with letters of gold, breathed forth 
the spirit of internationalism with which the French 
movement is specially permeated and glorified : " Parti 
Socialiste : Section Francaise de V Internationale Ou- 
vriere" This, then, is a congress of a great national 
section of the International Socialist Party ! 

At ten o'clock in the morning 220 delegates, repre- 
senting 67 sections of the French party, took their 
seats. They were a strong-looking lot of men, and 
while, as I have said, the middle-class element was 
large, the delegates were mainly working men. I 
almost instantly picked out Jules Guesde. One would 
remark him anywhere. The pallor of his dark skin 
gives one the first impression of physical weakness. 
He has great masses of long black hair which he 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 79 

tosses back over his head and ears. He is upward 
of sixty, but his eyes still burn and his thought comes 
in flashes. Every expression, word, and act tell of 
what Guesde is and of what he has always been. He 
is a zealot. His whole being loathes the system under 
which we live, and he fights it, not calmly, but at fever 
heat. His voice is piercing, almost painful at times, 
but his thought is as clear as a mountain stream, and 
it tears its way through all obstacles at a rate which is 
almost unbelievable. He knows no compromise and 
gives no quarter. He is fearless and imperious. His 
words come like rapier thrusts, and he often uses them 
as unmercifully. By the side of Guesde sits Gustave 
Delory, who was breaking stones on the streets of Lille 
two years before he was elected mayor of that great 
city, and who is now a deputy in parliament. In both 
places he has astonished friend and foe alike by his 
extraordinary ability. 

The fine, jovial face with merry twinkling eyes and 
white hair in abundance is that of Paul Lafargue. One 
could see that it must be he who had written the fantastic 
socialist tracts one reads with such pleasure, and who, 
as Emile Vandervelde has said, loves nothing so much 
as to shock the timid by his extreme paradoxes. The 
strongly built, gray-bearded man, with blue glasses and 
a small cap, is Edouard Vaillant, the veteran revolution- 
ist, and a leader of that terrible insurrection of '71. 
He once made the remark that he had never known 
any kind of revolution that he was not in favor of. He 
is still fighting at the head of the movement, and per- 
haps no other man in France is more long-headed in 
times of stress than Vaillant. 

Jaures sits far away to the back of the room. He 



80 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

is a short, thickset man, powerfully built, with leonine 
head. He shows in every movement quickness of ac- 
tion, tireless energy, and the enormous quantity of 
physical and mental power which he possesses. One 
can feel the sentiment of the South in him. He is a 
man of emotion whose whole being revolts at the cruel- 
ties, the miseries, the brutalities, of the present system. 
One can see that he likes to be in the thick of the 
fight. He bears a striking resemblance to Senator La 
Follette. Physically and mentally as well as in their 
power of debate and oration they are as alike as 
brothers. Besides the men I have mentioned there 
were many others of international renown, such as, for 
instance, Gustave Herve, the great apostle of anti-mili- 
tarism, who has only recently come out of prison, where 
he had been sent for his propaganda among the con- 
scripts. But I should take too much space if I were 
to attempt to describe all the noted men who were 
present. There were others almost as well known as 
those named, and many younger men of brilliant abil- 
ity who are fully prepared to take the places of the 
older men when they are gone. My purpose must be 
now to tell a little of the work of the congress. 

The reports of the administration showed a remark- 
able progress in the growth of the movement. When 
the various parties were united, there were only 27,000 
persons definitely affiliated and paying dues. Now 
there are more than 52,000. The party is organized 
in over 70 different federations, with affiliated groups 
in 80 out of the 97 departments of France. There are 
2160 municipal councillors, 149 mayors, and 219 vice- 
mayors in the various cities, towns, and villages of 
France. In parliament the socialist group numbers 52 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 8 1 

members, and at the last elections the total vote given 
to 346 candidates put forward by the party was approx- 
imately 900,000, an augmentation of 12 per cent over 
the vote obtained in 1902. The press of the party in- 
cludes three daily papers : " L'Humanite," in Paris, " Le 
Populaire du Centre," at Limoges, and " Le Droit du 
Peuple," at Grenoble ; and in addition there are two 
biweeklies, 37 weeklies, and two monthlies. 

These interesting reports as to the progress of the 
movement were followed by several debates, the most 
important of which was perhaps that concerning the 
relation between the trade 'unions and the socialist 
party. It was the old controversy that has agitated the 
movement for thirty years, during all of which time 
Guesde has made repeated efforts to capture the unions 
and to persuade them to adopt a parliamentary attitude. 
Indeed, it is the most vital question before the socialists 
in all countries, except in England and in Belgium, where 
the workers, politically and industrially, are closely and 
firmly united. It was the real problem back of the dis- 
cussion of the general strike in Germany, and it was also 
at the bottom of all the discussions of the Italian congress. 
And with us in America, it is one which must be solved, 
or the socialist movement may long continue in its pres- 
ent ineffective condition. 

The question was brought before the congress in a 
motion made by the Guesdists, which was aimed against 
what is called the neutrality of the unions ; that is to 
say, their non-political attitude. In France, as in Italy, 
the trade unions are extremely revolutionary, and the 
advanced wing and some of the most ardent fighters are 
bitterly opposed to parliamentary methods. Some of 
them are, of course, anarchists ; others are " syndi- 



82 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

calists " ; that is to say, believers in direct action by the 
workers themselves by means of the general strike. The 
Guesiisrs wished to begin a war upon these elements 
and by resolution to condemn the independent action of 
the unions. They also asked for the constitution of a 
permanent committee to consolidate the unions and the 
socialist party. The resolution called forth an immense 
and heated debate. Two days and all of one night were 
consumed in discussion. About forty delegates inscribed 
their names as wishing to take part, but after several had 
spoken it was seen that this question alone would occupy 
the entire time of the congress unless some limit was 
put either as to time or as to the number of speakers. As 
the French have a prejudice against a time limit, it was 
decided to ask all those desiring to speak to retire and 
select from among themselves those who were best fitted 
to place the various points of view before the congress. 
Eleven out of the thirty who still desired to speak were 
then selected, and among others Jaures,Herve, Allemane, 
and Guesde. 

The debate was both brilliant and instructive. While 
it comprehended questions which we do not have in 
America, much of the discussion was upon the relative 
power of the two organizations, — the unions upon the 
economic, the socialists upon the political field, — to 
achieve the emancipation of the working-class. The 
only view that was not represented was that of "the 
pure and simple " trade unionist, for there is no one of 
importance in the labor movement in France who would 
consider that the working-class shouM concern itself 
merely with a struggle for shorter hours and better 
wages. Nor, on the other hand, would any one suggest 
that the labor movement should ally itself with one of 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 83 

the old parties. The movement is too far advanced for 
that. The fundamental question is whether the unions 
shall take industry into their own hands, by means of the 
general strike and any other direct revolutionary method 
available, or whether they shall pursue the parliamentary 
method, and in this way gradually capture the state, and 
through it socialize industry. 

So much for the ground of the debate. The Guesdists 
are revolutionary parliamentarians, who are convinced 
that the workers can do nothing without having the state 
in their hands, and they are apt to underestimate the 
importance of trade union action. The opposing ele- 
ments in the party, like Vaillant and Jaures, desire to 
leave the unions independent, and to neutralize by their 
own propaganda that of the anarchists. Vaillant feared 
the resolution of the Guesdists would only serve to 
aggravate the conflict between the party and the unions. 
The congress, he said, ought to affirm the necessity for 
the economic movement, and it ought not to wish to 
subordinate the unions to the party. It ought to recog- 
nize the Federation of Labor as the economic unit of the 
proletariat, and to say that the socialist party will give 
it every aid in its economic struggle. This was very 
much the trend of the debate against the motion. Jaures 
made a very long, but, it seemed to me, not very effective 
address, although it was delivered with all the power and 
magnetism of his personality and impressive oratory. 

There was an effort made by both sides to arrive at 
an amicable settlement of the difference of opinion, but 
neither could conscientiously yield upon the vital issue. 
After two days of discussion, representatives of the 
varying views were sent into a special committee to 
arrive, if possible, at a compromise. Having sat most 



84 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

of the night without reaching a settlement, the two 
following resolutions were submitted to the vote. That 
supported by the Guesdists declared : " It is the same 
class, the same proletariat, which organizes and acts, 
both on the economic field through its unions, and on 
the political field through its socialist party; and if 
these two methods of action and organization cannot 
be blended, they cannot ignore one another, without 
mortally dividing the proletariat against itself and ren- 
dering it incapable of emancipating itself ; it is neces- 
sary, therefore, according to circumstances, that the 
trade union and political actions of the workers should 
be in concert and unison." 

That supported by Jaures, Vaillant, and others was to 
the effect that : " The congress, convinced that the 
working-class will only be able to fully free itself by the 
combined force of trade union and political action, by 
the unions going as far as the general strike, and by 
the conquest of all the political power, in view of the 
general expropriation of capitalism ; that this double 
action will be much the more efficacious as the political 
organizations and the economic organizations shall have 
their complete autonomy ; and taking official notice of 
the resolution of the trade union congress at Amiens, 
which affirms the independence of the trade union 
movement of all political parties ; invites all militants to 
do their best to dissipate all misunderstanding between 
the Federation of Labor and the Socialist Party." 

These two resolutions were put to vote, and the lat- 
ter was carried by 148 mandates against 130, with nine 
abstentions. The closeness of the vote shows that the 
policy of the party in this matter is not finally settled. 
And it is needless to say that had the vote gone the 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 85 

other way it would have offered no solution to the vex- 
ing problem of harmonizing the tendencies of these two 
great movements of the working-class. The solution 
lies not so much in resolutions as in convincing the 
proletariat that there is danger in the present friction 
between those who would take the view that parlia- 
mentary action is alone necessary to emancipate the 
working-class, and those unionists who are constantly 
proclaiming that the economic movement with revolu- 
tion as the end is the sole method worthy of engaging 
the energies of the proletariat. 

Upon the report of the socialist group in parliament 
another interesting discussion took place. This time it 
was as to the attitude that the party should take in its 
relation to the Clemenceau ministry which had been 
formed on the eve of the congress.* Two of the ablest 
socialists, Briand and Viviani, had taken posts in the 
new cabinet, and Millerand had been offered a portfolio, 
but had refused it. The entire cabinet was made up of 
men of radical opinion, and the parliamentary session at 
hand promised to be most interesting. There were 
many questions upon which the opinion of the socialist 
party could not easily be distinguished from that of the 
ministry. It was decided, therefore, that there should 
be a resolution formulated expressing the views of the 
congress as to the relation which should exist. After 
some discussion, in which Jaures and Guesde took part, 
the following resolution was passed : — 

" The congress, considering that any change in the 
personnel of a capitalist government could not in any 
way modify the fundamental policy of the party, puts 
the proletariat on its guard against the insufficiency of 

* See also p. 250. 



85 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

a program, even the most advanced, of the ' democratic 
bourgeoisie ' ; it reminds the workers that their libera- 
tion will only be possible through the social ownership 
of capital, that there is no socialism except in the 
socialist party, organized and unified, and that its 
representation in parliament, while striving to realize 
the reforms which will augment the force of action and 
the demands of the proletariat, shall at the same time 
oppose unceasingly, to all restricted and too often 
illusory programs, the reality and integrity of the 
socialist ideal." 

Every one rejoiced that there was no serious differ- 
ence of opinion in this matter, for many had feared 
that Jaures would be inclined to view favorably the 
new ministry. The passing of the above resolution 
without a dissenting voice proved beyond question that 
the party was firmly cemented in its bonds of union, 
and needless to say, it was a cause for supreme happi- 
ness to the entire congress. In conversation Jaures 
was overheard to say to a few comrades who were 
speaking to him of this resolution and the " socialists " 
Briand and Viviani : " Outside of the united party, there 
are no socialists." 

Unity, submission to the will of the majority of the 
party, friendly words between those of different views 
on tactics, the absence of ill feeling of any kind, all of 
these things impressed one with the new life of the 
French movement. The desire for accord was so great 
that Herve remarked on one occasion that the congress 
was afflicted with a strange malady, that of unanimity. 
Nevertheless, one could still see signs of the old divisions, 
and occasionally the factions seemed on the point of 
breaking forth in their old lines of battle ; but the desire 



THE FRENCH SOCIALIST PARTY 87 

for unity was too strong, and I am sure that Guesde ex- 
pressed the view of every one who attended the congress 
when he said afterward : " Unity has come to stay, and 
no man in the party is strong enough to destroy it." 
This is the word of courage that, after thirty years or 
more of quarrels and schisms, the French socialist 
movement now sends forth to the world. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 

No other socialist body in Europe was founded under 
what seemed to be such favorable auspices as the Social 
Democratic Federation of Great Britain. The time was 
ripe for socialist agitation and organization. The reac- 
tion against the barren and treacherous policy of the 
liberal party, which had been returned to power in 1880 
under Gladstone, was in full swing, and gave birth to a 
political revolt led by some eminent democrats and 
reformers. In 1881 they held a meeting in the West- 
minster Palace Hotel to discuss plans for united action. 
It was a notable gathering. There was Joseph Cowen, 
the intimate friend of Mazzini and Garibaldi, an ardent 
republican and radical, who with Sir Charles Dilke, 
Bradlaugh, Auberon Herbert, and others, had in the 
seventies carried on a courageous campaign against 
monarchy. Professor Edward S. Beesley, who had in 
1864 presided over the inauguration of the International 
Working Men's Association, was also there. He was an 
eminent positivist, a brave and fearless thinker, and had 
been a warm friend of the trade union movement in the 
day when to be its friend meant persecution and social 
ostracism. At a second meeting, H. M. Hyndman oc- 
cupied the chair. He was a Trinity College, Cambridge, 
man, a brilliant journalist who had specialized in Indian 
affairs, and had aroused immense interest in that colony 

88 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 89 

by his remarkable portrayal of the evils prevalent under 
British rule. After his defeat as an independent candi- 
date for parliament in 1880, he had thrown himself into 
a campaign of protest against the coercion policy of 
Gladstone in Ireland. Helen Taylor, the niece of John 
Stuart Mill, Herbert Burrows, and Belfort Bax were also 
among the early members. As a result of these con- 
ferences the Democratic Federation was formed, and a 
definitely socialist program was adopted. Directly after- 
ward, William Morris, Edward Carpenter, and Walter 
Crane came into the Federation ; and John Burns, Jack 
Williams, and Tom Mann, three of the most effective labor 
agitators in England, joined a year or so later. 

About the same time another socialist organization, 
the Fabian Society, was formed. Professor Thomas 
Davidson had gathered about him a group of young men 
to whom he presented with lofty sentiment and fine 
humanism his philosophy for perfecting individual char- 
acter. He held their attention for some time, but at last, 
Bernard Shaw says, " Certain members of that circle, 
modestly feeling that the revolution would have to wait 
an unreasonably long time if postponed until they per- 
sonally had attained perfection, set up the banner of 
socialism militant ; seceded from the regenerators ; and 
established themselves independently as the Fabian 
Society." Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, Sydney Olivier, 
now Governor of Jamaica, Hubert Bland, and Graham 
Wallas were among the secessionists. 

To any one who knows anything of English affairs, 
the names of the founders of these two socialist organi- 
zations are ones to conjure with. All men of brilliant 
ability, they threw themselves into the rising movement 
with boundless energy, A socialist paper, "Justice," 



90 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

was started with Edward Carpenter's money, and was 
kept going by William Morris, until a few years later he 
launched "The Commonweal," where he printed some of 
his noble contributions to socialist literature. All of 
these men carried on, up and down the country, a cam- 
paign of meetings that seemed to promise for the English 
movement a series of brilliant successes. 

In 1886 socialist agitation began in earnest, as a 
result of a depression which had paralyzed industry, 
and had rendered the condition of the unemployed 
desperate. Huge meetings were held by the social- 
ists to bring to the attention of the government 
the misery of the people. After one of the gather- 
ings in February, 1886, the famished workers rushed 
through Pall Mall and other streets of the West End. 
and inflamed by the jeers of some young men sitting in 
the windows of one of the fashionable clubs, they bi 
into a riot. The meeting had been organized by the 
Social Democratic Federation, and had been addressed 
by Hyndman, Burns, Champion, and Williams, all of 
whom were indicted for having incited the mob to insur- 
rection. The upper classes were thrown into a panic ; 
all sorts of vague rumors were rife as to a violent up- 
rising of the people, and the trial of the leaders attra 
the attention of the whole country to the views of the 
socialists. 

During all that year and the next, the agitation 
was kept up with unabated vigor, and on the 15: 
November, 1887, another uprising occurred which is still 
remembered in England as " Bloody Sunday." A meet- 
ing in Trafalgar Square had been advertised to protest 
against the policy of the government in Ireland. It was 
a huge gathering of discontented, impoverished peo- 




.'. ..Ac.". )•[ : rr.s. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 9 1 

pie, led mainly by the socialists. Burns, Cunninghame 
Graham, and others were leading groups toward the 
Square, and William Morris, at the head of a long pro- 
cession, was making his way toward the same centre. 
Mackail, in his "Life of Morris, ,, says that: " No one who 
saw it will ever forget the strange and indeed terrible sight 
of that gray winter day, the vast sombre-colored crowd, 
the brief but fierce struggle at the corner of the Strand, 
and the river of steel and scarlet that moved slowly 
through the dusky swaying masses when two squadrons 
of the Life Guards were summoned up from Whitehall. 
Morris himself did not see it till all was nearly over. 
He had marched with one of the columns which were 
to converge on Trafalgar Square from all quarters. It 
started in good order to the number of five or six thou- 
sand from Clerkenwell Green, but at the crossing of 
Shaftesbury Avenue was attacked in front and on both 
flanks by a strong force of police. They charged into 
it with great violence, striking right and left indiscrimi- 
nately. In a few minutes it was helplessly broken up. 
Only disorganized fragments straggled into the Square, 
to find that the other columns had also been headed off 
or crushed, and that the day was practically over. 
Preparations had been made to repel something little 
short of a popular insurrection. An immense police 
force had been concentrated, and in the afternoon the 
Square was lined by a battalion of Foot Guards, with 
fixed bayonets and twenty rounds of ball cartridge. For 
an hour or two the danger was imminent of street fight- 
ing such as had not been known in London for more 
than a century." This shows the character of the agita- 
tion carried on by the socialists during the eighties. 
All of them, together with many of the old radicals, 



92 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

were involved again and again in street riots and colli- 
sions with the police for asserting the right of free 
speech. 

A general awakening of the working-class seemed to 
be taking place as a result of socialist activity, and 1889 
marks the beginning of a new epoch in English trade 
unionism. The unions had lost nearly all of their old 
idealism and humanitarian sentiment. They had become 
little more than societies for mutual aid, content to pro- 
tect themselves in their own trades, leaving the rest of the 
working-class to struggle without organization for the 
barest necessaries of life. John Burns and Tom Mann, 
imbued with socialist idealism, began a bitter campaign 
against the narrow exclusive policy of this aristocracy of 
labor. " How long, how long," Tom Mann demands of the 
trade unionists, " will you be content with the present 
half-hearted policy of your unions ? I readily grant that 
good work has been done in the past, but^ in Heaven's 
name, what good purpose are they serving now ? All 
of them have large numbers out of employment even 
when their particular trade is busy. None of the impor- 
tant societies have any policy other than that of endeav- 
oring to keep wages from falling. The true unionist 
policy of aggression seems entirely lost sight of. In 
fact, the average unionist of to-day is a man with a fos- 
silized intellect, either hopelessly apathetic, or support- 
ing a policy that plays directly into the hands of the 
capitalist exploiter. ,, 

John Burns was no less vehement in his attacks. 
" Constituted as it is," he writes, in September, 1887, 
"unionism carries within itself the source of its own 
dissolution. . . . Their reckless assumption of the duties 
and responsibilities that only the state or whole com- 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 93 

munity can discharge, in the nature of sick and super- 
annuation benefits, is crushing out the larger unions by- 
taxing their members to an unbearable extent. This so 
cripples them that the fear of not being able to discharge 
their friendly society liabilities often makes them sub- 
mit to encroachments by the masters without protest. 
The result of this is that all of them have ceased to be 
unions for maintaining the rights of labor, and have 
degenerated into mere middle and upper class rate-re- 
ducing institutions.'' 

But the attitude of the socialists was not solely a nega- 
tive one. In July, 1888, the misery and suffering of the 
girls employed in making lucifer matches aroused the 
indignation of Mrs. Annie Besant, one of the most brill- 
iant women in England, who had for some time been 
working with the Fabians. Finally her agitation caused 
these unfortunate women to revolt, but without funds or 
organization their struggle seemed utterly hopeless. 
As a result, however, of the efforts of Mrs. Besant and 
Mr. Herbert Burrows, the appalling conditions existing 
in this trade were brought to the attention of the public, 
and several hundred pounds were subscribed to support 
the strike, until finally the employers were forced to 
make some concessions. Burns was then leading the 
gasworkers, who up to that time had been unorganized, 
in a successful battle against their employers, and as a 
result they obtained an eight-hour day and an increase 
in wages. 

The success of these two strikes of the most miserable 
workers in London gave a tremendous impetus to the 
struggle for a wider and more inclusive unionism ; and 
they were followed by an even more notable victory. 
For two years prominent London socialists had been 



94 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

agitating among the dockers, whose condition was per- 
haps the most hopeless of English workmen. The 
trade was so badly organized that none of the laborers 
received more than a few hours work each day, and the 
wages were so low that only casual workmen, semi- 
vagrants, and single men could remain at such employ- 
ment Ben Tillett, a laborer in one of the warehouses, 
was attempting the apparently hopeless task of organiz- 
ing these workers. The new union made little progress, 
but despite that fact the conditions became so unbear- 
able that in August, 1889, a strike was declared. Tom 
Mann, at the very height of his power, and John Burns 
went to the assistance of Tillett. They worked night 
and day, and by assembling every morning near the old 
London Tower a hundred thousand starving strikers, 
they managed to dissuade them from abandoning what 
seemed to be a hopeless conflict. For four weeks the 
greatest port in the world was completely paralyzed. 
The big, enthusiastic Tom Mann, with his gifted elo- 
quence and religious faith in the cause of the workers, 
awakened in all classes a sympathetic interest in the 
dockers. For perhaps the first time in England there 
was general disapproval when the companies attempted 
to obtain scabs to replace the strikers, and nearly a 
quarter of a million dollars was subscribed by the pub- 
lic to support the strike. With this large f und at their 
disposal, the leaders established an elaborate system of 
strike pay, and finally the united pressure from editors, 
clergymen, shareholders, shipowners, and merchants 
enabled Cardinal Manning and other prominent English- 
men to effect a conciliation, the men being conceded 
most of their demands. 

In the same decade the Fabians were developing 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 95 

their own method of forwarding socialism. They were 
meeting in some of the most aristocratic rooms in Lon- 
don. " Our favorite sport," Bernard Shaw says, "was 
inviting politicians and economists to lecture to us, 
and then falling upon them with all our erudition and 
debating skill, and making them wish they had never 
been born." A well-known member of parliament, 
who was lured into their web on one of those occasions, 
afterward wrote a furious article, entitled " Butchered 
to make a Fabian holiday." In 1888 twenty-eight Fab- 
ians sent postcards to convince the newly born "Star" 
newspaper that London was aflame with socialism. 
The ruse worked successfully, and as a result the 
" Star " became a Fabian organ, with one of the ablest 
editors in England writing socialist leaders. However, 
the capitalist proprietors soon discovered that the inter- 
est in socialism was still limited to a small group, and 
the Fabians were cleared out. 

Nevertheless the society was making a profound im- 
pression upon the old parties.* Instead of limiting their 
activity to socialist circles the members joined as many 
liberal and radical associations as possible. By con- 
stantly moving resolutions they did excellent work in 
education,, and created a general impression of a wide- 
spread socialist sentiment. Graham Wallas formed in 
London the Metropolitan Radical Federation, represent- 
ing working men's clubs, having a total membership of 
25,000, and under his direction they adopted a program 
which embodied nearly all the Fabian proposals. By 
persistently attending all political meetings and besieg- 
ing with questions nearly every liberal candidate, they 
finally developed a group of progressives in the liberal 

* See also p. 204. 



96 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

party who '.vera willing to accept most of the immediate 
program of the socialists. 

British socialism at this time was making splendid 
progress among the middle class. A great number of 
groups were organized, drawing-room meetings were 
held, ami ever, a: the universities circles were formed to 
study socialism. A number of pr:pagandists were at 
work in the churches, and as a result " The Christian 
Socialist Society" ana "St. Matthew's Guild" were 
formed, both of which adopted a Christian-Socialist 
program. In the provinces the movement was making 
headway among the Dissenters, while in London at one 
time there was a group of over forty clergymen, nearly 
all of whom were socialists, working to bring to the 
attention of the upper classes the miserable condition 
of the people. In fact, strange as it may seem, social- 
ism was winning its most enthusiastic adherents among 
the educated classes, and in addition to the prominent 
men already mentioned as the founders of socialist 
organizations, Grant Allen, the scientist, and Professor 
Alfred Russei Wallace announced themselves as con- 
verts. 

The times were stirring, and seemed to be of good 
promise for the rapid rise of British socialism. Unfor- 
tunately this was a forlorn hope. The working-class for 
the most part remained inert, and the middle-class 
leaders were quarrelling among themselves. Morris 
and his followers broke away from the Federation early 
in the eighties and formed the Socialist League. The 
Fabian Society, which from the beginning had opposed 
the policy of the social democrats, doubted the wisdom 
or necessity of an independent political party. Annie 
Besant. who had done such splendid work amonc: the 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 97 

women, withdrew from the Fabians, and Burns and 
Mann, who had almost accomplished the difficult task 
of uniting the middle-class socialists with the new union- 
ism, resigned from the Social Democratic Federation. 
By the unfortunate loss of these two men the Federa- 
tion suffered seriously as a revolutionary influence among 
the workers. 

There were at this period two fundamental weak- 
nesses in British socialism : lack of unity, and the in- 
capacity of the leaders to bring the workers into a 
socialist organization. In nearly every other country 
some one has arisen who has been able to unite the 
various factions upon a common program and method 
of action. Unfortunately in England there was at this 
time no such leader, and the groups became more and 
more widely divided. The leaders were all middle-class 
men of great ability, of unquestionable sincerity, mak- 
ing every sacrifice to promote socialism ; but their views 
and tactics differed so profoundly that harmony was 
out of the question. 

It is not to be doubted that despite these divisions 
important work was done in spreading socialist ideas, 
which unfortunately, however, seemed to make no con- 
siderable impression upon the working-class. Morris 
early recognized this weakness, and when he left the 
Federation, he said, " I cannot forego the hope of our 
forming a socialist party which shall begin to act in 
our own time instead of a mere theoretical association 
in a private room, with no hope but that of gradually 
permeating cultivated people with our oivn aspirations ." 
In this utterance he struck upon the fundamental defect 
in British socialism during the eighties. Jaures, in the 
great debate at Amsterdam, expressed a similar view 



98 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

when he said that in his belief socialism had not made 
headway in England because from the beginning it had 
not been sufficiently in contact with the actual life or 
with the needs of the working-class. Not only Morris, 
but many other English socialists realized this weakness 
of the movement, and efforts were made to penetrate 
into the unions ; but this is almost impossible in Eng- 
land for middle-class men. 

As a result of the gulf between the socialists and the 
workers, socialist ideas underwent a peculiar develop- 
ment in London. The Fabians evolved an original 
philosophy that the middle and upper classes are the 
revolutionary element in society, and the proletariat the 
conservative element; and therefore, as Bernard Shaw 
says, they went to work "to place socialism upon a 
respectable bourgeois footing.' ' The social democrats, 
on the other hand, became more and more revolutionary 
in their phrases, and more and more narrow in their sec- 
tarianism. Failing to effect a great political organization, 
they became almost anarchistic in tactics. " It will 
only need a compact minority/' their organ declared, 
"to take advantage of some opportune accident, that 
will assuredly occur, to overthrow the present system, 
and once for all lift the toilers from their present social 
degradation." During this period the social democrats 
seemed to be expecting at any moment to see capitalism 
disintegrate of itself, and they cherished the fond hope 
that after the catastrophe the workers would take indus- 
trial operations into their own hands and administer them 
for the welfare of all. By becoming more and more 
absorbed in this philosophy of economic fatalism the 
Federation grew intolerant of the activities of the trade 
unionists on the one hand, and the Fabians on the other. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 99 

It is, of course, evident that middle-class leaders alone 
cannot make a sound socialist movement. Nevertheless 
the propaganda during the eighties and nineties was 
extraordinarily effective. There was little work done in 
organizing the movement on broader lines, but it is un- 
questionable that socialist ideas were making great 
headway. In this phase of socialist activity the Social 
Democratic Federation played a leading part. It was 
not able to move the working-class as a body, but it 
schooled some of the most capable men in the labor 
movement ; and by constantly lecturing and campaign- 
ing it acquainted a vast number of earnest young men 
and women with the economic doctrines of socialism. 
Fabian groups, branches of the political bodies, and 
labor churches were organized through the country. 
The Land Nationalization Society was carrying on a 
vigorous campaign of education, and the lecturing vans 
of the Land Restoration League were sent throughout 
the rural districts, carrying speakers and literature. 

About the same time the " Clarion," the best edited 
journal and perhaps the most effective organ of social- 
ist propaganda, was started by Robert Blatchford and 
a group of his friends, all of whom were able journalists. 
For a time each of them wrote under a nom de plume : 
Robert Blatchford as " Nunquam," E. F. Fay as " The 
Bounder," Alex. Thompson as " Dangle," and Montague 
Blatchford as " Mont Blong." The journal met with a 
warm reception throughout all England, and Clarion 
Cycle Clubs and other organizations were started for 
propaganda purposes. It would be almost impossible to 
estimate the value of the " Clarion" in these early days 
of the movement. It created an enthusiasm of an en- 
tirely new order, not only among the working men, but 

1. of a 



IOO SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

among journalists and others fond of good literature. Its 
readers were entranced by the " Unsentimental Journeys " 
of the jovial, big-hearted Bounder; the lilting, satirical 
lyrics of Mont Blong ; and they found a new interest in 
comedy and drama under the tutelage of Dangle, re- 
cently in New York in the interests of his two plays 
" Tom Jones " and " The Dairymaids." Above all their 
hearts were touched and their enthusiasm was fired by 
the wonderfully simple, charmingly written articles of 
Nunquam. His writings are perhaps more eagerly 
read than those of any other English author. His " Mer- 
rie England," giving the economics of socialism, sold 
upward of a million, and " Britain for the British," a 
similar book, has been read by hundreds of thousands. 
When I was in London in 1899, I found many circles 
of influential people discussing socialism. The Fabians 
were absorbed in municipal affairs and in their efforts 
to permeate the Liberal Party with socialist ideas, but miss- 
ing no opportunity to lecture and laugh at each other and 
everybody else. There was also a small group of the 
Independent Labor Party, an organization founded by 
Keir Hardie in the early nineties, with its strength mostly 
in the provinces. It was serious, hard at work, and, ap- 
parently without reason, hopeful for the future. I saw 
a good deal of John Burns. He had broken away from 
all socialist bodies, and was busy in parliament and in 
the London County Council; but he was making no ef- 
fort to form a movement among the workers, and indeed 
quite frankly without hope that one could be formed. I 
saw a few members of the Social Democratic Federation. 
Their movement, then nearly twenty years old, was 
standing still, and nearly all the London members were 
bitter and disheartened. So far as I could see there was 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY IOI 

no movement of consequence. The various sections did 
not like each other, the propertied interests looked upon 
socialism without alarm, and evidently the working-class 
was fighting shy of it. Later in the summer I attended 
the conference of the Social Democratic Federation at 
Manchester, but I was not led to change my con- 
clusion. 

In fact, it was not until I spent a few days with Keir 
Hardie at his home in Scotland that I began to think 
my estimate of the socialist movement was wrong. Late 
one afternoon I arrived at Old Cumnock, and was met at 
the station by Mr. and Mrs. Hardie. As night came on, 
with a fine, full harvest moon, they took me for a walk ; 
and after listening to my rather despondent remarks 
concerning the failure of British socialism, Hardie said : 
" But you have only seen London, and every one who 
breathes the air of London loses hope. If you want to 
see the socialist movement, spend some time in the prov- 
inces, and you will see that everywhere socialism is 
making headway." 

As a matter of fact, Hardie had made socialism a 
thing of consequence among the workers outside of 
London. He early saw the necessity for uniting into 
one political organization the trade unions with their 
million and a half adherents, the cooperatives with 
their million members, and the various municipal or- 
ganizations working on a program of vital interest to 
the workers. Hardie and his friends of the provinces 
were convinced that by working persistently among 
these organizations they could bring them all together 
i into a political party. In this work he was joined 
by Tom Mann, who with John Burns had been grad- 
ually breaking down the conservatism of the British 



102 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

trade unions, and had at their Liverpool congress in 
1890 scored a great victory for the newer ideas. 

Hardie had for years been quietly at work among 
the unions of the north. He was born almost in the 
mines, having gone to work underground at seven 
years of age. He never had a day's schooling, but his 
mother taught him to read when he was so young 
that he cannot remember when he could not read. 
When quite a youth, he began reforming as a 
temperance advocate, and although without interest 
in the union movement he was induced to become the 
secretary of a miners' organization, because he was the 
only one who could write the minutes and properly pre- 
pare the papers. As soon as the employers discovered 
that this youth was the secretary of the union he was 
discharged, and he came, in a very practical way, face 
to face with economic problems. This act of the em- 
ployers made Hardie a labor agitator, and gave to the 
workers of England the most powerful, consistent, pa- 
tient, and painstaking leader the movement has known. 

But this Scotch miner " could not long be the voice of 
the wronged and bruised labor of the mines alone," as 
John Spargo has so eloquently said. " Whoso would 
cry for one single toiler's weal must cry equally for all. 
There is no weal for any while there is woe for any. 
Keir had not come to that, but when the docker ap- 
pealed to him, he became the docker's voice. And 
when the seeker for work, tired of seeking in vain, beck- 
oned with wasted finger, Keir answered and straight- 
way became the voice of the workless one's woe. Then 
Keir realized that the wrong of the miner and the 
wrong of the docker and the wrong of the workless 
one were the same wrong. So Keir became a socialist. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 103 

He was the voice of toil in the street, by the dockyard 
gate, in the market-place, — he became the voice of toil 
in the parliament of the exploiters of toil. It needed 
Courage, and it needed Faith, and Keir lacked neither 
the Faith nor the Courage. Sometimes Labor was afraid 
of its own voice — afraid of Keir ; and when he cried 
aloud for Peace, and shouted defiance to the red dragon 
of war, miner and docker and workless one cried out 
against Keir with a voice not their own and would have 
stoned him — would have stilled their own voice. But 
Keir's Strength and Courage and Faith increased ; he 
voiced wronged and bruised and blinded Labor's woes 
in spite of its own unfaith and ignorance and fear." 

At the Trade Union Congress held in Bradford in 
1892, Hardie gathered about him a small group of 
working men for the purpose of forming a labor party. 
His idea was at that time, as it has been ever since, to 
unite all the workers into an independent political move- 
ment. He found it increasingly difficult to believe in 
the value of socialism without any labor party to ac- 
cept it. He was entirely of the view of Wilhelm Lieb- 
knecht, who once declared that "it is crazy tactics for 
a working men's party to seclude itself away up above 
the workers in a theoretic aircastle, for without work- 
ing men there can be no working men's party, and the 
laborers we must take as we find them." Many of the 
socialists opposed Hardie in this work, and he once said 
rather bitterly, " It is remarkable that the only serious 
opposition we have had to encounter has come from 
the men who ought to have occupied an inner place 
in our councils. It has been said that the words 
of the apostate are ever the harshest ; and we are ex- 
periencing the truth of that." 



104 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Nevertheless the I. L. P., as it is now called, was 
organized, and began almost immediately to make 
headway in the provinces. Upon the birth of the new 
party, Tom Maguire, a working man, a poet, and one 
of the most lovable spirits in the British movement, 
wrote to Edward Carpenter: "As you may not have 
heard, be it mine to mention that now the mountain, 
so long in labor, has been delivered of its mouse — a 
bright, active, cheery little mouse, with just a touch 
of venom in its sharp little teeth. ... To come to 
the point, an Independent Labor Party is born unto 
us — long may it wave. You will find in your travels 
that this new party lifts its head all over the north. It 
has caught the people as I imagine the Chartist move- 
ment did. And it is of the people ; such will be the 
secret of its success. Everywhere its bent is socialist, 
because socialists are the only people who have a mes- 
sage for it." Many of its members at the succeeding 
elections were carried to local governing bodies, and 
the party won to its cause not only the strongest of the 
younger men in the labor movement, but a large num- 
ber of disinterested and loyal friends outside the work- 
ing-class. 

The new movement early demonstrated, what had 
been doubted before in many quarters, that a third 
party could become an effective power in British poli- 
tics. The doubt that a labor party could get a footing 
was due in part to the failure of the Social Democratic 
Federation in its electoral struggles. In 1885 it had 
run two candidates in London. Mr. Williams in 
Hampstead got 27 votes, and Mr. Fielding in Ken- 
sington 32 votes. This wretched showing proved a 
disaster to the socialist movement. The Federation 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 105 

lost many of its members, and some extremists repu- 
diated political action altogether. The English feeling 
at that time was similar to that which still exists among 
a great many radicals in the United States. It was 
recently expressed rather bitterly in an editorial in the 
single-tax weekly of Chicago, " The Public. " " Under 
the present electoral machinery, ,, runs the editorial, 
"the socialist party can no more become a dominant 
or even a second party than a cabbage can become a cow. 
They cannot continue to draw their own vote. Machine 
politicians understand this, and are accordingly indiffer- 
ent to side-party voting." This is a vigorous expression 
of what seemed to be the view of many English social- 
ists in the eighties and early nineties. 

Among others the Fabians had condemned the third- 
party idea. It was, therefore, of immense importance 
to socialism when the victories of the I. L. P. proved 
that a third party could become a political force. 
Almost immediately after its formation one of its 
candidates ran in opposition to both Liberal and Tory 
candidates, and after a short and brilliant campaign 
succeeded in polling over 1400 votes. Scarcely a by- 
election took place in an industrial constituency in 
which the I. L, P. did not carry on an active campaign. 
At the General Election of 1895 all of its parliamentary 
candidates, including Hardie, were defeated, but the 
total vote ran up to nearly 50,000, which meant that 
the' I. L. P was proving to be, even at this early date, 
a disturbing political factor. In municipal elections 
it made distinct gains. In Glasgow, Bradford, and 
other places, it elected representatives to the munici- 
pal councils, to the School Boards, the County Coun- 
cils, Parish Councils, and Vestries. From that time on 



106 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

independent political action was recognized as one of 
the most effective ways of demonstrating socialist 
strength. 

The I. L. P. was unquestionably the strongest socialist 
organization in Great Britain at the time I was visiting 
Hardie. But he was dissatisfied. He said the unions 
had not come into the movement as he had hoped, and 
the cooperatives were entirely out of it; above all, the 
various socialist organizations were not united. It was 
not his purpose merely to start a new political associa- 
tion to compete with the other socialist bodies. He 
considered the first and most important work to be done 
was to take all unions, cooperatives, and other labor 
organizations out of the Liberal and Tory parties, and 
to have them form an independent political body. He 
realized that in the beginning this organization could 
hardly be socialist, but he was confident that inasmuch 
as socialism expressed the hopes and aspirations of the 
working-class, an independent political movement un- 
dertaken by the workers themselves must, in the end, 
become socialist. Hardie was at the time at work on 
this larger and more inclusive organization, but it had 
hardly assumed form when I bade him good-by in 
1899. 

Returning to England in 1903, I went to see Hardie 
at his rooms in London. He lives in an old court 
reminiscent of bygone centuries, in the very garret of a 
fourteenth-century house. In this quaint old place he 
spoke with enthusiasm of the rising labor movement, and 
indeed, a new stage was developing in British socialism. 
The trade unions had decided at their congress in 1899 
to call a conference on labor representation in parliament. 
In February, 1900, a large meeting was held of the 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 107 

representatives of nearly all of the most important labor 
organizations in the country, and of the three socialist 
organizations. As a result it was decided that labor can- 
didates should be run for parliament on a footing inde- 
pendent of the two old political parties. Unfortunately 
the committee had to face a general election when only 
a few months old, and as nearly all of the candidates 
had opposed the Boer War, and as jingoism still ran 
high, they were only successful in electing two candi- 
dates, Richard Bell and Keir Hardie. However, several 
by-elections were won, which made a profound impres- 
sion upon the country. The movement was taking 
definite form, and Hardie prophesied that at the next 
general election at least twenty-seven labor men, the 
majority of them socialists, would be returned to parlia- 
ment. 

But it was not the propaganda of the socialists alone 
that forced the inert unions into politics. It was to no 
small degree the result of an attack upon the very ex- 
istence of the trade union movement. A decision of 
the courts, now known to history as the Taff Vale 
decision, threw the entire trade union movement into a 
state of excitement and dismay. The Taff Vale Railway 
Company had sued the Amalgamated Society of Rail- 
way Servants for having conspired to induce the work- 
men to break their contracts, and also with having 
conspired to interfere with the traffic of the company by 
picketing and other alleged unlawful means. A promi- 
nent justice granted an injunction against the society, 
and while this was later reversed by the Court of Appeal, 
the House of Lords finally sanctioned the decision as 
at first rendered. It decided that a trade union might 
be sued, and as a result of the suit the railway union 



108 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

was forced to pay damages to the amount of over 
$100,000. This verdict was staggering, and the unions 
saw very clearly that unless something was done to 
alter the situation their movement would be destroyed. 
According to the English law, the decision practically 
amounted to new legislation against the unions, and a 
nullification of the old rights which had been won in 
1 87 1. There was a tremendous agitation among the 
unions, and they immediately set to work to find ways 
and means of exerting their political power upon parlia- 
ment, from which they demanded a new law which 
would give them again the rights they had enjoyed pre- 
vious to the Taff Vale decision. This attack upon the 
unions, coming as it did at the very climax of the 
socialist agitation for a working men's political move- 
ment, gave an immense impulse to the organization then 
taking form. 

The new party first came into existence under the 
form of the Labor Representation Committee of the 
Trade Union Congress, but as the movement developed, 
it took the name of The Labor Party of Great Britain. 
It is a federation of trade unions, trades councils, social- 
ist societies, cooperative societies, and local labor associa- 
tions. All members elected under its auspices are paid 
an equal sum not to exceed $1000 per annum, but this 
payment is made only to those members whose candi- 
datures have been promoted by societies which have 
contributed to the funds. Absolute independence of 
both the old parties is enforced upon those elected, and 
absolute loyalty to the constitution and rules of the party 
is insisted upon. In the short time of its existence, it 
has grown to a membership of over one million. In 
other words, this enormous number of voters severed 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY IO9 

their connection finally with the two old parties, and the 
only candidates who could hope to obtain their support 
in the parliamentary election were those pledged to the 
principles and objects of the Labor Party. The object, 
as defined in the constitution, is to organize and maintain 
a parliamentary group with its own whips and policy, 
and to secure the election of candidates for whose can- 
didatures affiliated societies have made themselves respon- 
sible financially, and who have been selected by regularly 
convened conferences in their respective constituencies. 
Candidates must accept the constitution ; agree to abide 
by the decisions of the parliamentary party in carrying 
out the aims of this constitution ; appear before their 
constituencies under the title of Labor Candidates only ; 
abstain strictly from identifying themselves with or 
promoting the interests of any party not eligible for 
affiliation ; and they must not oppose any candidate 
recognized by the executive committee of the party. 
Candidates must also join the parliamentary labor group 
if elected. 

The independence of the party should not be con- 
fused with what is known on the Continent as neu- 
trality. It is definitely a class party working to improve 
the conditions of life among the workers of Great 
Britain, and while sections of the Tory and Liberal 
parties are not permitted to join, all the socialist bodies 
of Great Britain are welcomed. Both the I. L. P. and 
the Fabian Society are at present affiliated, and their 
members are put up as candidates of the party. In 
other words, it is independent politically of all except 
the socialist parties. Indeed, although every effort has 
been made by the capitalist papers and politicians to 
create a division between what they call the socialist 



HO SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

section of the party and the trade union section, there 
is no real distinction, for most of the 20,000 affiliated 
socialists belong to trade unions and many of the 
975,oco affiliated trade unionists are also socialists. 
The strength of the socialists cannot, therefore, be 
measured by the number of the adherents coming 
direct from the socialist groups. For instance, out of 
seven candidates successfully promoted and financed by 
the I. L. P., three of them were trade union officials 
whose societies comprised about 50,000 members, and 
of the 23 successful candidates put up by the trade 
unions themselves, 10 were leading members of the 
I. L. P. Altogether 13 members of parliament are 
both trade unionists and members of the I. L. P., and 
they represent trade societies with a total of 330,000 
members. Another indication of the unity between the 
two sections is the fact that nearly all of the ablest 
militants are socialists. The chairman of the Parlia- 
mentary Committee, the chairman of the Executive 
Committee, and the chairman of the Congress are all 
socialists, and of the members of the new Executive 
Committee only three are not socialists. In addition to 
these evidences of socialist strength, a large majority 
of the candidates selected at present to contest new 
seats in the next general election are well-known social- 
ists. It is with complete unity between the sections 
that the Labor Party has carried on its electoral cam- 
paigns. The brilliant results are known, and, at the 
last general election, 29 working men were returned 
to parliament, a majority of them socialists. 

It was a great achievement, and when the news was 
cabled round the world, it was received with amaze- 
ment. The old political parties, the metropolitan 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY III 

newspapers, the leaders of thought, and the grave and 
wise governors of the destinies of the British people 
could not understand. It seemed incomprehensible 
that such a movement could have arisen, could have 
attained such proportions, without their knowing of its 
existence. British labor in politics ! Fifteen or twenty- 
socialists returned to the House of Commons! It 
seemed incredible. Of all the workers in the world 
none appeared less class-conscious, less imbued with 
socialist sentiment or revolutionary ideals, than the 
British working man. He had patiently suffered every 
injustice. He lived in frightful conditions of squalor 
and poverty, and when old age, unemployment, or 
serious illness deprived him of a livelihood, he and his 
family went to the workhouse or subsisted on the 
meagre rations of outdoor relief. His submissiveness 
had been so complete, and his complaints so rare and 
mild, that a political revolt seemed unbelievable. It 
was the general belief that the grossly immoral thing 
called socialism would never appeal to the Briton, and 
the governing classes, sure that it never would, were 
almost paralyzed. The working man had severed his 
connection with the capitalist parties, and what they had 
failed to give him as a matter of common human justice 
he demanded now in no uncertain way by sending his 
own representatives into parliament. 

With these things in mind, I went to the Labor Party 
congress which convened at Belfast on the 24th of 
January, 1907. There I found 350 delegates, all but 
half-a-dozen of whom were working men, who had come 
as representatives from the most important trade unions 
in Great Britain. It was a most significant gathering, — 
significant because it represented a mass movement of 



112 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the manual workers to express politically their dis- 
content with the present order. In combining with 
almost perfect solidarity all the varied working-class 
organizations of Great Britain, the party had accom- 
plished a remarkable work, the importance of which, 
from the point of view of the advance of socialism, 
could not be exaggerated. There were representatives 
from practically every trade — miners, iron founders, 
steel smelters, engineers, firemen, gas workers, railway 
men, dockers, printers, postmen, textile workers, car- 
penters, bricklayers, and general laborers, and as a 
whole they represented a million workers, who during 
the last seven years had been assembled together in 
the independent political movement. 

Practically every one in the assembly had come from 
the workshop. Most of them were self-educated men, 
who, despite the hard conditions surrounding their early 
life, had fought their way into responsible executive 
positions in their powerful organizations. Nearly all 
of them knew the evils of capitalism at first hand. 
They had suffered from poverty, unemployment, insani- 
tary homes, insanitary workshops, and many of them 
had begun as children their lives of labor in mills, 
mines, and factories. And yet most of them were men 
of capacity and ability. Their work as organizers had 
schooled them, and nearly all were capable debaters 
and impressive speakers. Probably in no other class 
of society could one find men more familiar with eco- 
nomic and political questions, or better trained in 
the businesslike methods of parliamentary procedure. 
Some of them administered the affairs of trade organ- 
izations with over a hundred thousand members, and 
handled year in and year out hundreds of thousands 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 



113 



of pounds. The striking growth of the movement 
since its inception in 1900 is illustrated by the follow- 
ing figures : — 





Trade Unions 


Socialist Societies 


Total 




No. 


Membership 


No. 


Membership 




I 900- I 
1901-2 

1902-3 
1903-4 
1904-5 
1905-6 

1906-7 
1907-8 


41 

65 
127 

165 
158 
158 

176 

l8l 


353,070 
455,45° 
847,315 
956,025 
885,270 
904,496 
975,182 
1,049,673 


3 

2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 
2 


22,86l 
13,861 
13,835 
13,775 
14,730 
16,784 
20,885 
22,267 


375,931 
469,311 
861,150 
969,800 
900,000 
921,280 
998,338* 
1,071,940 



* This total includes 2271 cooperators. 

It will be seen that the party has trebled in size since 
its beginning, and the number of unions affiliated has 
increased over fourfold. The miners' unions, which 
have fifteen members in parliament under the auspices 
of the Liberal Party, have not yet decided to join the 
independent movement, although the balloting on the 
question last year was very close, and indicated a grow- 
ing sentiment in favor of affiliation. The only defec- 
tion from the ranks of the Labor Party since its 
foundation has been that of the Social Democratic 
Federation, which withdrew in 1901 when the party 
declined to adopt a socialist program. 

Impressive as the gathering was, there was one sig- 
nificant contrast between it and the other congresses 
abroad. With the exception of Hardie, Pete Curran, 
Bruce Glasier, and one or two others, none of the most 
prominent militants of the socialist movement were 



114 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

in attendance. The withdrawal of the Social Demo- 
cratic Federation prevented, of course, the attendance of 
Hyndman, Burrows, Irving, and others of that body, 
and the organization, composed as it is almost solely 
of manual workers, has not thus far made adequate 
provision for obtaining the active and enthusiastic par- 
ticipation in its affairs of such eminent socialists as 
Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Sidney Webb, Robert 
Blatchford, and a host of writers, professors, econo- 
mists, and clergymen who have become ardent sym- 
pathizers. In fact, the only middle-class socialists who 
were there were MacDonald, Bruce Glasier, and S. G. 
Hobson, from the I. L. P., and Edward Pease, the able 
secretary of the Fabian Society. Thus in the absence 
of some of the foremost British socialists one could 
hardly think of the Labor Party as occupying the same 
position in Great Britain that the socialist parties occupy 
in other countries ; and there is no question but that 
the movement must make some provision for unifying 
the intellectual with the manual workers if it wishes 
to exercise an influence equally powerful with that of 
the continental parties over the thought and life as well 
as over the institutions of the community. 

The first day's session of the congress was exces- 
sively dull. Only details of organization were consid- 
ered, and the discussion was brief and uninteresting. 
It also was a decided contrast to the continental assem- 
blies, as indeed all British meetings are. Britishers 
abhor general discussion, and their meetings are or- 
ganized to keep the assemblies strictly in hand and to 
limit rigidly the speaking to the point at issue. On 
the continent provision is made for thorough general 
discussion before the details of a question are consid- 




H. M. Hyndman. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 115 

ered. In Germany it is usually thorough, scientific, 
and doctrinaire ; in France and Italy it is the oppor- 
tunity for a really brilliant play of wit, humor, and 
intellect. To one of the Latin temperament every 
question makes an appeal both to his reason and con- 
science. Necessarily it takes time to obtain an agree- 
ment under such conditions, but it is a great incentive 
to intellectual life. Over a matter that is settled in 
Great Britain after a few five or ten minute speeches, 
the Frenchmen spend hours and even days in debate. 
The question is examined from every possible point 
of view, and in its relation to every other conceivable 
question. And when one has been living for some 
time in the midst of men keenly enjoying this play 
of intellect and emotion, the British assembly seems 
to have organized out of existence nearly everything 
that is worth while in a conference. A long speech is 
not tolerated, and unless the orator is exceptionally 
clever he dare not give expression to his emotion. As 
a result of such parliamentary traditions the congress 
of the Labor Party seemed all machinery and organi- 
zation, — like a Lancashire cotton mill. 

There was little of importance in the first session, 
beyond the discussion which was brought up by a resolu- 
tion of the executive committee to increase the admin- 
istrative and electoral forces now employed by the 
committee, so as to enable the party to take an active part 
in municipal elections, and the report of Keir Hardie as 
chairman of the parliamentary group. Hardie showed 
that labor is becoming a powerful force in British poli- 
tics. In one session they had forced through parliament 
three important measures, and for perhaps the first time 
in the history of labor they had obtained serious consid- 



Il6 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

eration for all their proposals. The greatest victory 
was, of course, in passing the Trades Disputes Bill, which 
denned anew the legal position of the trade unions, and 
reversed entirely the Taff Vale decision. A bill for com- 
pensating workmen injured in industry was also passed, 
which realized a great gain in principle as well as 
in the provision made for those rendered incapable of 
further labor. These two bills were directly in the in- 
terests of the trade unions, and another bill was passed 
of a still wider social bearing. For years there had 
been agitation to provide meals for necessitous school 
children, and at last under pressure from the Labor Party 
a bill was passed which enables the local authorities to 
make such provision. Hardie was justified in saying 
that no party in British politics ever came out of a single 
session with a better record of good work accomplished. 
The second day of the congress was largely devoted to 
a discussion upon general principles. There was an effort 
on the part of several members of the Social Democratic 
Federation, who had come to the congress as trade 
unionists, to force a constitutional amendment, defining 
the object of the party to be the overthrow of the pres- 
ent capitalist system. The amendment was so framed 
that if carried, it would doubtless have split the party, 
and have forced those who were not out and out 
socialists to withdraw from the organization. This 
naturally called forth the opposition of nearly all the 
socialists who had been working for years to build up 
the independent political movement. The executive of 
the party asked Pete Curran, an old militant, to oppose 
the motion. He said that the resolution, if carried, would 
destroy the movement, and he insisted that it was neither 
in the interest of solidarity nor in the interest of socialism 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 117 

throughout the trade unions that the motion had been 
proposed. This was very much the line of discussion 
taken by the ablest socialists at the congress, although 
Hardie regretted that the motion had come up in the form 
that it had, as it prevented socialism being discussed on 
its merits. Many good socialists present who would 
have voted for a socialist statement, would, he said, 
be compelled to vote against the proposed amendment 
to the constitution. As the socialists voted with the 
other organizations, the resolution was hopelessly de- 
feated. 

The last day of the congress was interesting only be- 
cause of one incident. In the few minutes immediately 
before the close of the session, after a number of ques- 
tions had been hurriedly voted upon, and other matters 
decided, a resolution came up dealing with Women's 
Suffrage, a question which has recently been brought to 
the front by a campaign of sensational agitation led by 
some able women. Ever since the movement assumed 
definite form, Hardie has manifested great sympathy for 
it. During the last session the party in the House 
pledged itself to the effect that women's suffrage would 
be one of the first measures it would advance the follow- 
ing year. A resolution was, therefore, brought before 
the conference which read as follows : " That this con- 
ference declares in favor of adult suffrage and the equal- 
ity of the sexes, and urges an immediate extension of the 
rights of suffrage, and of election, to women, on the 
same conditions as to men." This left to the parliament- 
ary group freedom to support any measure in the direc- 
tion of complete adult suffrage. Mr. Harry Quelch, the 
editor of." Justice," who was there as a trade union rep- 
resentative, but who was really the spokesman of the 



Il8 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Social Democratic Federation, moved an amendment 
He expressed himself in favor of equal voting rights be- 
ing extended to all men and women, but he demanded 
that the party oppose any restricted measure. The 
amendment was, of course, intended to prevent the Labor 
Party from supporting in any way the limited suffrage 
bill then before parliament. For reasons unnecessary 
for me to dwell upon, a majority of the delegates were in 
favor of passing the amendment, and all over the hall 
there arose cries of " Vote." Nevertheless, when Hardie 
rose to speak, the conference listened to him. It had 
been said that the bill would only permit women with 
property to vote, and Hardie was accused of having 
dropped the unemployed agitation to support this limited 
form of women's suffrage. In answer to these and other 
objections Hardie said briefly that if the bill contained 
a property qualification, he would not support it ; neither 
would he support it if it were an attempt to put women's 
suffrage before a remedy for unemployment. What was 
the fact ? Women to-day were classed with criminals 
and lunatics as being unfit to exercise the vote. There 
were no men so classed ! (Voices : There are.) " No; 
a man does not require to have property to have a vote, 
he has a householding qualification. The bill does not 
propose to establish any new qualification at all. Under 
it two millions of women would be enfranchised, and of 
these one and three-quarter millions would be working 
women. The difficulty about the bill is that people will 
not take the trouble to understand it." 

A vote was taken, and it was found that the amend- 
ment was carried by a large majority. A loud cheer 
from the victors, almost the only demonstration of the 
kind that had followed any vote of the conference, 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 1 19 

greeted the result. No one thought that the amend- 
ment would carry with it any serious consequences, but 
to the astonishment and dismay of every one, Hardie, 
after expressing the thanks of the congressists for the 
hospitality of the Belfast workers, made the following 
important statement: — 

" Twenty-five years ago this year I cut myself adrift 
from every relationship, political or otherwise, in order 
to assist in building up a working-class party. I had 
thought the days of my pioneering were over. Of late 
I have felt with increasing intensity the injustice which 
is inflicted upon women by the present political laws. 
The intimation I wish to make to the conference and 
friends is that, if the motion they carried this morning 
was intended to limit the action of the party in the 
House of Commons, I shall have seriously to consider 
whether I can remain a member of the parliamentary 
party. I say this with great respect and feeling. The 
party is largely my own child, and I would not sever 
myself lightly from what has been my life's work. But 
I cannot be untrue to my principles, and I would have 
to be so were I not to do my utmost to remove the 
stigma resting upon our wives, mothers, and sisters of 
being accounted unfit for political citizenship. " 

These words fell upon the conference like a bomb. 
The congress of the Labor Party was over, but for a 
long time the men stood about the hall not knowing 
what to do. Hardie's action was a surprise to every 
one, and no one, not even his most intimate friends, 
had felt that he would treat his defeat so seriously. 
But Hardie believes that suffrage is a fundamental 
right of democracy, and he afterward wrote, in answer 
to a friend who had written him urging him not to re- 



120 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

sign, and that socialism must be first : " What my friend 
overlooks is the fact that with us it is socialism first 
because we already have the vote. With our voteless 
fathers it was votes first. In Russia just now it is 
votes first ; in Belgium the same ; and so it would be 
here if men were outside the franchise as women are. 
Our fathers fought against class disability just as the 
women are now fighting against sex disability. If only 
that fact could be grasped, aU the trouble would dis- 
appear.'' Later, in the same statement, Hardie says: 
" The spectacle of women being treated as though they 
were dogs or pariahs revolts and humiliates me ; their 
admission to citizenship on terms of political equality 
with me is with me a sacred principle ; and I would not 
wish to be in association with any movement or party 
which could be guilty of the unfairness and the injus- 
tice of denying to women those rights which men claim 
for themselves." 

It was not an uplifting conference. The first day 
bored every one, and in the end, as the reader must well 
see, we went away sad and depressed. In contrast to 
the continental congresses, the men of the Labor Party 
lack the passion and warmth which come only with the 
possession of a great ideal. Nearly everywhere else in 
Europe the masses are fired with a new religion, and 
the cold, machine-like methods of the Labor Party 
chilled one's enthusiasm. There are perhaps many 
explanations that might be given for this lack of ideal- 
ism. Perhaps it is because the movement is still in 
its earlier stages, and the details of organization press 
themselves forward, leaving little time for developing the 
fundamental ideas which the movement must have as 
a basis if it is to rank with similar movements the world 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 121 

over. Perhaps this coldness is inherent in the British 
temperament. But whatever the cause, the lack of far 
vision in the labor movement irritates and saddens a 
great many socialists. 

But the average Britisher has no theories. He is 
quiet, thoughtful, but stolid. Above all he is practical, 
and the thing he is doing is an end in itself. And the 
British workman is no exception. If he is interested 
in cooperation, trade unionism, or a labor party, he is 
interested in it for the practical good that can be ob- 
tained by the use of that thing itself. The Frenchman 
has his unions and cooperatives, but not at all because 
he cares about the immediate ends of these institutions. 
To him they are merely weapons, ammunition in the 
social revolution. But to the British working man these 
things are too often an end. If he wishes to exercise 
his power in cooperation with others in buying, selling, 
or producing; if he wishes to exercise his economic 
power by cooperating with his fellow-workmen in trade 
unions, or if he desires to exercise his political power 
by uniting politically with his fellow-workmen, he does 
these things because he feels that there is some con- 
crete immediate end of distinct advantage to himself 
to be obtained by these means. Formulas, fundamen- 
tal principles, and eternal verities irritate him. Yet it 
is perhaps because of these traits of his character that 
he has formed one of the most distinctly class move- 
ments to be found in the world ; but he refuses to call 
himself class-conscious or at present to discuss very 
seriously or exhaustively the advantages of the socialist 
state. One cannot help admiring the quick intelligence, 
the enthusiasm, and the high ideals of the Latin peo- 
ples, and the thorough thinking and fatal logic of the 



122 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Germans, but there is much also in the British tempera- 
ment that appeals to one. Simply because the move- 
ment in Great Britain refuses to accept phrases which it 
does not fully understand is not a good reason for think- 
ing that it is not equally advanced with the move- 
ment elsewhere. So long as it moves definitely on 
the lines of the class struggle, that is the most im- 
portant matter; and if the working-classes can be 
united politically and economically against the exploiter 
of labor, the rest will come of itself. 

However, many prominent English socialists do not 
agree with this view, and they refuse to identify them- 
selves with the new movement because they fear it 
is not, and never will be, a socialist organization. But 
even if this were granted, it would only prove that 
the British working men are inaccessible to socialist 
ideals ; and if that is true, there cannot be a conscious 
socialist movement in Great Britain. The Labor Party 
represents the working-class. It carries the class strug- 
gle into politics. It is an organization of working 
men, maintaining absolute independence of the capital- 
ist parties, while at the same time extending an open 
hand of welcome to every socialist, whether of the 
working-class or not, who belongs to an affiliated or- 
ganization. No better opportunity has been offered 
the socialists of any country to carry on their propa- 
ganda, and even to lead the workers into the lines of 
socialist development. If the socialists cannot impress 
their ideas upon the Labor Party, they will fail to im- 
press them upon the workers outside of the Labor Party. 
The worker of the Labor Party is the typical Britisher. 
He is suspicious of theoretical considerations and broad 
generalizations. For this reason he may resist to the 




J. KeirHardie. M.P. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 1 23 

end the thoroughgoing comprehensive programs upon 
which the movements of other countries have been built. 
But because of that, shall we say the Labor Party is not 
socialist? 

Socialism is surely less a matter of program than it is 
a movement of the disinherited. Hardie very well said 
at the conference that formed the I. L. P., "The labor 
movement is neither a program nor a constitution, but 
the expression of a great principle, the determination of the 
workers to be the arbiters of their own destiny." * Marx 
himself said that " a movement was worth ten programs." 
Liebknecht, de Paepe, and nearly all the ablest socialist 
leaders have considered working-class organization and 
unity more important than the program. Engels indi- 
cated that he was of the same view when in 1892 he 
wrote of the British movement, " It moves now and then 
with an over-cautious mistrust of the name of socialism, 
while it gradually absorbs the substance." * The fact 
is the British worker is building up a powerful working- 
men's movement. It will represent, it must represent, 
the aspirations of the working-class, and every day it 
must come into conflict with the selfish and narrow 
policy of the present order. Whether it works con- 
sciously or unconsciously, its end must be socialist, and 
curiously enough by the very nature of its political re- 
volt it follows the lines of the Marxian philosophy. 

When socialism in England was largely a matter of 
programs, broad generalizations, and critical analysis, 
it made little impression. It was a thing by itself, 
not yet embodied into the constitution and action of 
working-class life. Socialist thought had not yet been 
brought into proletarian life, and proletarian life had not 

* The italics are mine. 



124 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

yet been brought into socialist thought, as Jaures so 
well puts it; but the socialists to-day who are in the 
Labor Party are in contact with proletarian life, and are 
gradually infusing their spirit into the mass of British 
workers. In the old days when the socialists limited 
their activities to permeating cultivated people with 
their aspirations, to use Morris's phrase, they were 
scoffed at or ignored. To-day everybody in England 
is discussing socialism, and every capitalist influence is 
being exerted to the utmost to split the Labor Party by 
separating the trade unionists from the socialist mem- 
bers.* The "Daily Express " during the whole sum- 
mer of 1906 ran a column entitled "The Fraud of 
Socialism.' ' Always bitterly antagonistic to every 
aspiration of the working-class, it has consistently 
fought every measure for the benefit of the workers; 
but in this campaign it posed as the friend of work- 
ing men. With a sensational appeal to the mass of 
trade unionists it endeavored to rouse them to what 
it called the raid the socialists were making upon 
their funds. According to the " Express " the socialists 
were endeavoring to capture the trade unions by 
stealth, and to use them for furthering their own 
nefarious and anti-social purposes. Other papers came 
into the battle. All Great Britain was discussing so- 
cialism and the Labor Party. Everybody wrote letters 
to the papers, as every one does in England, express- 
ing their views upon the matter ; and bishops, minis- 
ters, politicians, and even the nobility began to take 
sides. Nothing has ever happened that has done more 
to advance socialism, and the socialists came out of the 
fight stronger than ever. 

* See also p. 231. 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 125 

The real test of the strength and conscience of the 
workers is at hand. The socialists are being held up 
as atheists, as believers in the confiscation of all private 
property, and as advocates of free love.* The labor 
men with conservative views are being patted upon the 
back and flattered. Their vanity is worked upon, their 
jealousies and ambitions fed, and so the campaign pro- 
gresses, publicly and privately, openly and underhand- 
edly, to disrupt the party and disorganize the working- 
classes. 

The most subtle, and not the least important of the 
efforts being made to destroy the Labor Party, is the 
shrewd politics of the Liberals. They have given labor 
all and more than it has asked. The measures already 
obtained by labor are not of fundamental importance ; 
and yet even these petty measures in the interests of 
the working-class could not have been obtained except 
by bringing to bear on the old parties powerful political 
pressure, and that pressure is exercised best by an in- 
dependent party. The old parties see very plainly that 
if they do not endeavor to placate labor, it may return 
a hundred or more members to the next parliament, 
and may even within a few years become the second 
party. They begin, therefore, to realize that they are 
in an awkward situation, and they now lavish upon 
labor evidences of good-will. They do not do so be- 
cause they love labor any more than they have loved it 
in the past ; it is because their political life has been 
threatened, and the wise British masters have their own 
way of acting under such circumstances. They give 
nothing until they have to, but when no alternative is 
open to them, they give gracefully. This is a very 

* See also pp. 232-233. 



126 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

skilful method of retaining power, and even some of 
the labor members are puzzled, and perhaps a little 
inclined to think they have too harshly judged their 
masters. 

There are reefs ahead, and trying times. No other 
workers in Europe have such an astute class to battle 
with. To divide and thus to conquer is the present 
policy of the old parties, of the press, and of nearly all 
the most prominent leaders of British opinion. Bis- 
marck, endeavoring to destroy socialism, persecuted the 
leaders, threw them into prison, drove them into exile, 
and for several years forced the whole movement under- 
ground. He meant to destroy it, but instead he gave it 
an enormous incentive. As we have seen, his action 
consolidated the warring factions. In France the upper 
class use a somewhat similar method, and in Italy they 
shoot down discontented, starving workmen ; but the 
English statesmen divide, disrupt, create suspicion, 
flatter, and corrupt, and if necessary, grant, apparently 
with real sympathy, some of the claims of an advanced 
movement. These subtle methods are far more effec- 
tive than those known to continental politicians, and 
despite all the reform movements that have risen and 
political revolutions that have occurred in England, the 
rule of the upper classes has never once been in 
danger. Taine has well said, " Such a country as this 
is, based on the whole national history and on the whole 
national instincts, it is more capable than any other 
people in Europe of transforming itself without recast- 
ing, and of devoting itself to its future without re- 
nouncing its past." 

In the face of such traditions and inherited instincts, 
in the face of the native dislike of general principles 



THE BRITISH LABOR PARTY 1 27 

and abstractions, it is a stupendous task to impress 
upon British labor the comprehensive revolutionary 
ideals of socialism. Whether it can be done or not 
remains to be seen, and in the meantime there is no 
question but that a real danger confronts a party with- 
out well-defined principles and high ideals. No one 
realizes that fact more than Hardie, and it seemed to 
me that when he spoke at Belfast the following words, 
it was with a note of wistfulness, and a sentiment of 
sorrow : " A labor party without an ideal cannot last. 
There must be some Holy Grail which they are ever in 
search of, which they are making sacrifices to reach, 
and which will inspire and enable the men and 
women comprising the party to do mighty deeds for the 
advancement of their cause. Many of the Labor 
Party — most of them — find that ideal in socialism. 
They are not content to be merely a Red Cross Brigade 
to stanch the wounds caused by the system under 
which they live. They stand for reform, for progress, 
and finally for freedom of the class to which they be- 
long." 

Note. — As the manuscript goes to the printer the following report (from 
"The Labour Leader") of the Hull Congress of the Labor Party reaches 
me : — 

"At last the Engineers' resolution was reached. In animated sen- 
tences J. J. Stevenson, of the Engineers, moved : — 

" ' That in the opinion of this Conference the time has arrived when the 
Labor Party should have as a definite object the socialization of the means 
of production, distribution, and exchange, to be controlled by a democratic 
State in the interest of the entire community ; and the complete emanci- 
pation of Labor from the domination of capitalism and landlordism with 
the establishment of social and economic equality between the sexes.' 

" When the result was read out, it was found that the resolution was 
carried by 514,000 against 469,000 votes. This is the first time the ex- 
tent of socialist conviction has been seriously tested in the Conference." 



CHAPTER V 

THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 

I have come from the " Classic Land of Capitalism " 
to what Karl Marx has called "The Paradise of the 
Capitalists." One would need to be an adept in fine 
distinctions to make clear the difference. If the work- 
ing-classes of England are poverty-stricken, and live 
in overcrowded and squalid quarters, so do the workers 
of Belgium. There is one distinction, however. There 
are certain classes of workmen in England who have, 
by organization and united action, established for them- 
selves a tolerable existence. In Belgium there is prac- 
tically no such class. The entire mass of workers, 
when not actually beneath the poverty line, live but 
slightly above it. In both the classic land and the para- 
dise an immense body of citizens live in abominable 
conditions, and toil their lives away without enjoying 
the benefits of modern civilized life. 

Belgium is not a comfortable, joyous place where the 
people lead happy lives and the souls of children are 
full of gladness. It is true that in many parts of this 
tiny country, the smallest in Europe, there are spacious 
and beautiful estates and handsome chateaux, enjoyed 
by capitalists who control the powers of government 
and the institutions of the land. But beneath them is 
a nation in poverty. The capitalists have created for 
themselves a paradise ; and in order to support it, they 
have made for the people an inferno. Outside their 

128 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 129 

magnificent estates there is the never ceasing hum of 
industry; the great factories, the mines, the quarries, the 
vast docks and wharves, the canals stretching throughout 
the country, and the minutely and intensively cultivated 
fields, where multitudes of men, women, and children 
labor unceasingly. Travelling in Belgium, one passes 
through such a conglomeration of industrial centres 
as to make one feel that Packingtown, the great steel 
mills of Pittsburg, the mining districts of Pennsylvania, 
the textile mills of the South, and the docks of the Great 
Lakes had all been crowded together in this little hand- 
ful of country. 

Since 1830, when the capitalists began their rule in 
Belgium, the population has steadily increased until 
now it is the densest in Europe. The increase in 
wealth has been prodigious, and the factories, mines, 
commerce, and cultivation of the soil have developed to 
such an intensity that perhaps no similar bit of space in 
the universe is so adequately and variously industrialized. 
The figures of the increase in the wealth of Belgium 
show that during these years of capitalist domination, 
there have been amassed 35 milliards of francs, with an 
annual revenue of 3J milliards. Louis Bertrand shows 
that if this wealth were equally distributed among 
all the people, each family would possess a capital of 
25,000 francs, or an annual revenue of 2500 francs. This 
would mean in Belgium that every man, woman, and 
child would be assured a comfortable and in a small 
way even a luxurious existence. 

But there is no such distribution of wealth. Instead 
of comfort in the year 1896, 170,000 workmen, or about 
25 per cent of all laborers investigated, gained less than 
40 cents per day, and 172,000 workers, or 25 per cent 



130 



SOCIALISTS AT WORK 



again, earned between 40 and 60 cents per day. This, 
of course, means that these workers were under the 
poverty line, and therefore unable to supply themselves 
and their families with the necessaries of life. Perhaps 
as striking as any of the figures illustrating the poverty 
in Belgium are those concerning the dwellings of the 
workers. In Brussels the conditions are by no means 
the worst, and yet 17,597 of the families investigated, 
or 34 per cent, are forced to live in one room, the sole 
space they have for sleeping, eating, and living. But 
it is not only in wages or in housing that such appalling 
conditions exist. Even the capitalists under the present 
system cannot easily remedy these things. The injus- 
tice and wickedness of their rule are even more clearly 
shown by the woman and child labor, and by their re- 
sistance to the demands of the people for the education 
of their children. In 1902 the proportion of militiamen 
in various European countries who were entirely 
illiterate was as follows : — 



Per 1000 



In the German Empire in 1900 . 

In Sweden . 

In Denmark . 

In Switzerland . 

In Holland . 

In England (marriage statistics) 

In France . 

In Belgium . 



0.7 
0.8 
0.2 

20 * 

23 

37 

46 
101 



* Read only imperfectly. 



From these figures it will be seen that the Belgians 
are by far the most illiterate and poorly educated of all 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 13 1 

the peoples of industrial Europe. Children have been 
needed for the mills and mines, and protest on the part 
of the people has not availed to prevent the capitalists 
from exploiting them. Capitalist rule in Belgium has 
been perfect, for, as with us, there were until 1886 but 
two parties ; when the one was defeated, the other was 
in power, and both parties represented the elements 
that are enriched by cheap labor. 

It would seem impossible to expect from the workers 
of Belgium an intelligent and consistent revolt, as they 
are the most oppressed and badly educated workers of 
the industrial countries of Europe, and accustomed to 
work the longest hours at the lowest pay. Indeed, it is 
the opinion of many Belgians that they are weak and 
submissive. A well-known socialist, Louis de Brouckere, 
writes: " Belgium, the battlefield of Europe, has known 
for centuries nothing but uninterrupted oppression. 
Spain, Austria, and France fought for our provinces 
which had already suffered from the brutal treatment of 
the Dukes of Burgundy. The rival powers took posses- 
sion of them, lost them, and took them again at various 
intervals. At every new conquest our country had to be 
forced to surrender and to obey. . . . We have been 
assailed by all the reactions since the Inquisition, and 
they have raged in our country more furiously than in 
any other except Spain, until the Restoration. We have 
had to submit to the despotism of every power from 
Philip the Second down to Napoleon, a cruel and long 
tyranny which ended by forcing us into servitude. 
During the time of our misery we learned habits of sub- 
mission, from which these twenty years of socialist 
organization have not been able to entirely free us." 

This is a strong statement, and in the face of such 



132 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

odds it is little wonder that the workers have submitted. 
But where any other course has been possible, they have 
availed themselves of it. In the old days in Ghent the 
mediaeval guilds used to flock into the public square to 
raise their standard of revolt. There also Gerard Denys 
used to lead the weavers against their oppressors. And 
there to-day stands the Maison du Peuple, representing 
the modern revolt of the workers. The Walloons of 
Liege, known always for their industry and hard labor, 
used to take the weapons which they manufactured so 
skilfully to use against their oppressors. A writer of the 
old day says : "The history of Liege records a series of 
sanguinary insurrections of the turbulent and unbridled 
populace against their oppressive and arrogant rulers.' ' 

And so it has always been. The strongest section of the 
International was among the Belgians, and their leaders 
were among the most capable and uncompromising. 
Indefatigable in their labor to keep alive the spirit of 
revolt, they fought with incredible energy and devotion. 
Cesar de Paepe, Jean Pellering, Desire Brismee, Eugene 
Steens, and Laurent Verrycken were men of whom any 
country might well be proud. Unfortunately the Inter- 
national, as a whole, was a body dominated by intellec- 
tuals, and although exhorting the workers to union and 
persistently urging that " The emancipation of the 
workers must be the work of the workers themselves/' 
it was filled with the poison of sectarian strife. It was, 
despite all, ideological, and above all a continuous battle 
between two great intellects.* 

Especially in Belgium they were dreary years of 
quarrels, creating antagonisms that made unity of action 
impossible. The death of the International in 1872 was 

* See also p. 305. 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 33 

followed by blank despair. Some of the leaders came 
to believe with the Russians that the only hope left to 
the workers was pan-destruction. Others retired to their 
workshops, hopelessly discouraged. Still others went 
into bourgeois politics, having lost all hope of working- 
class organization. Two " brilliant" members of the 
International planned to interview Napoleon the Third, 
who was then in England, and to endeavor to persuade 
him to become the emperor of the workers and peasants ! 
One of them was so infatuated with the idea that he soon 
imagined himself vice-emperor, and to expound his views 
he printed a little tract on " The Empire and the New 
France." Pessimism was general, the labor movement 
was dormant, and capitalism in Belgium as elsewhere 
grew more arrogant and oppressive. 

It was some time before new blood began to make 
itself felt. Two of the most remarkable of the younger 
men came from among that wonderful people, the 
weavers of Ghent. They were Van Beveren and An- 
seele. Other youths began to work in other parts of 
Belgium, and pretty soon throughout the country, work- 
men's leagues, democratic federations, rational and 
republican organizations began to spring up. Some of 
the old sections of the International were revived and 
a Chamber of Labor at Brussels was founded, while in 
Ghent and elsewhere the cooperative and socialist organ- 
izations took on a new development. Everywhere with 
the reviving movement there came to birth again the old 
longing of the oppressed for unity and concerted action. 
With this spirit there arose leaders to give it voice : 
Jean Volders, Van Beveren, Anseele, and Bertrand, 
while old Cesar de Paepe and Verrycken began to 
work again with renewed enthusiasm. 



134 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

In 1885 a hundred working men, representing 59 
groups, came together in Brussels to discuss what they 
should do. It was a remarkable gathering, which ended 
in the formation of the Belgian Labor Party. To the 
thought of every one the condition of the workers had 
become unbearable, and the longing for unity among the 
working-classes was profound. They were weary of 
dogma and intellect, and came very near excluding that 
grand old man, Cesar de Paepe. They gave no thought 
to program, and the socialists themselves, with the ex- 
ception of two or three, agreed that it was better to 
leave the word " socialist'' out of the title of the party. 

They had reached a stage more fundamentally revolu- 
tionary and more dangerous to capitalism than ever 
rested in any thought, dogma, or statement of what the 
future society should be. They intended to unite the 
working-class, no matter what the individuals believed. 
They wanted the stupid and backward elements as much 
as the advanced and more intelligent. In this memorable 
year something more profound than doctrine agitated 
the souls of the workers, and unionists, mutualists, so- 
cialists, democrats, republicans, rationalists, catholics, 
protestants, revolutionists, and positivists came together 
and formed a class party. It was a union of oppressed 
against oppressors, a union of workers against capitalists, 
a union of exploited against exploiters. They did then 
precisely what they are now doing in England. 

It was the birth of a party, determined to free itself 
from political connections of any sort with capitalist 
parties. The members did not say they were socialists ; 
they simply said, " The working-class of Belgium is or- 
ganizing itself politically against its exploiters, ,, and 
that means that they intend some day to take Belgium 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 35 

into their own hands and administer it in their own 
interest. Some of the socialists were not satisfied, but 
they all freely and generously assented to the decision 
of the congress. Whatever their opinion was at that 
time, it certainly came later in accord with that of 
Cesar de Paepe, who wrote not long afterward : " What 
more immense and at the same time more simple and 
precise ! Why add the words socialist, collectivism 
communist, rationalist, democrat, republican, and other 
limiting epithets ? He who says Parti Ouvrier says 
Party of Class, and since the working-class constitutes 
itself into a party, how could you believe that it may 
be anything else in its tendencies and principles than 
socialist and republican ? " 

After the Belgian party was constituted it became the 
most strikingly solidified and integral party in Europe, 
and it was not long before it adopted a complete social- 
ist program. Vandervelde has well said : " Belgian 
socialism, at the conflux of three great European civili- 
zations, partakes of the character of each of them. From 
the English it adopted self-help and free association, 
principally under the cooperative form; from the Ger- 
mans political tactics and fundamental doctrines, which 
were for the first time expounded in the Communist 
Manifesto ; and from the French it took its idealist ten- 
dencies, its integral conception of socialism, considered 
as the continuation of the revolutionary philosophy, and 
as a new religion continuing and fulfilling Christianity." 

In accord with this eclectic spirit, the Belgian Labor 
Party includes in itself every organization that expresses 
working-class aspirations. The trade unions ; the co- 
operatives with their " Houses of the People," their 
great stores, and their public meeting-halls ; and the 



136 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

friendly societies with their insurance schemes, are all 
closely and definitely associated in one political party, 
which carries on a gigantic propaganda, and has its 
press and its fighting force in parliament and upon 
municipal bodies. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
this complete organization and almost perfect solidarity 
brought the workers hope for the future and for the 
present great confidence in themselves. 

During the year 1886 riots broke out in various in- 
dustrial sections. The working-class had long stood 
oppression, and now at last it seemed the time had come 
to remedy the misery of their condition. During all the 
years of capitalist domination the two old parties had 
ignored the necessities of the poor. There was no 
legislation of importance to benefit or protect the work- 
ing-class. The total disregard of the capitalists for the 
misery of the workers is shown by their treatment of a 
bill introduced as early as 1872 to regulate child labor. 
It was an effort to prevent boys under thirteen years of 
age and girls under fourteen years of age from working 
underground in the coal mines. The bill was ignored 
for six years, and only in 187S did the parties take time 
to consider it. And then, even after the horrible con- 
ditions of child slavery had been stated, out of 155 
representatives in parliament 150 voted against the bill. 
But things began to change immediately after the forma- 
tion of the Labor Party. The capitalists were then 
forced to consider seriously the condition of the people. 
A commission of inquiry was established, and in the 
years following 1886, law after law was voted for the 
benefit of the working-class. They were not important 
laws perhaps, but as I have shown in the chapter on the 
British movement, even such miserable concessions are 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 37 

wrung from the ruling powers only after a complete 
political revolt of the wage-workers. 

Early on Easter Sunday, 1907, I went to the " House 
of the People " to attend the annual congress of the 
Belgian Labor Party. In one of the busiest and most 
important sections of the beautiful capital of Belgium 
the socialists have built their temple at a cost of over 
1,200,000 francs. It is a veritable palace, containing 
the offices of the International Socialist Bureau, the 
Belgian party, and the trade unions. There are also 
several large meeting and committee rooms, and of 
course, the stores, tailor shops, etc., of the cooperative. 
On the ground floor there is a large and handsome cafe, 
which is filled to overcrowding every evening with 
working people and their families. Besides this House 
of the People there are five branch establishments, all 
of them handsome buildings, and one of them with 
large grounds in addition. 

On this Easter morning the building was gorgeous 
in the sunlight; red flags were flying, and a great 
banner with " Welcome to AH" was flung over the 
broad entrance. From the top of the building were 
hung four tablets bearing the names of Marx, Proudhon, 
Volders, and de Paepe. How significant are these 
names ! Marx and Proudhon bequeathed to the Bel- 
gian movement, as to all other working men's move- 
ments in the world, intellectual lines of guidance. 
Volders represents the genius of agitation, one who 
literally destroyed himself by days and nights of 
feverish propaganda. At the time of his death, he 
was the master of Brussels. Cesar de Paepe was a 
friend of Proudhon, of Bakounine, and of Marx ; a 
great scientist, and an indefatigable propagandist. It 



138 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

was his spirit and counsel more than any one else's 
that made possible the unity and impressive harmony 
which rules the Belgian movement. His was the 
genius of working-class solidarity. 

At the top of this House of the People is a superb 
hall, ordinarily used for dramatic purposes, with seats 
for perhaps 2000 people. The night before I had 
seen it crowded with the poorest working men, women, 
and children of Brussels, who had come to see the 
popular cinematograph. This morning working men 
from every part of Belgium, from the mines, quarries, 
docks, glass-works, mills, and all the great industrial 
enterprises, were gathered together to deliberate upon 
their common affairs. There were about 400 delegates, 
representing cooperatives, mutual societies, trade 
unions, socialist circles, and " locals." They were 
almost all working men, for the movement in Belgium 
is predominantly proletarian, and in this respect it 
resembles markedly the British Labor Party. The 
mass of the delegates are builders and organizers of 
working-class movements. Many of them are masterly 
in debate and powerful propagandists, but few outside 
of Belgium know their names, or can appreciate the 
immense role they play in party affairs. 

There were, however, a few men of note. There 
was Louis Bertrand, who in the early days of the move- 
ment carried on an effective propaganda, and was also 
president of the conference at which the Labor Party 
was founded. Professor Emile Vinck, who has special- 
ized for many years upon municipal questions, delivered 
an important report. Senator Lafontaine, an extraor- 
dinarily brilliant man, Jules Destree, and Louis de 
Brouckere were also in attendance. Camille Huys- 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 39 

mans, the secretary of the International Socialist 
Bureau, was as efficient in the Belgian congress as he 
is in all congresses and committee meetings, whether 
national or international. Vandervelde, perhaps the 
most able parliamentary leader, and a scholarly and 
conscientious writer on economic subjects, was unable 
to be there because of illness; but he sent a report 
which was read and discussed. 

The youthful-looking person in the chair was Edouard 
Anseele. I had always wanted to see this militant 
ever since I learned that socialism was not a dream 
or a Utopia, but a present-day movement full of 
purpose and vitality. I had imagined that Anseele 
was now old and fatherly-looking, with white hair, 
benevolent face, and kind eyes. Instead, I saw a short, 
powerful, well-muscled, youthful-looking man with a 
small head and a strong neck. His jaws are those of 
a fighter, and in action they open and shut like a steel 
trap. He is the soul of conviction, and to express this 
soul he has a body of iron that knows no ache or 
pain. Overcoming obstacles is to him a joy. He 
loves to meet them, to battle with them, and to con- 
quer them. He is strenuous as even Roosevelt knows 
not how to be. He never rests ; he cannot walk, he 
runs. In fact, Anseele does the work of half-a-dozen 
men, and his accomplishments are prodigious. Besides 
managing one of the largest cooperative undertakings 
in Belgium, which does an annual business of over 
5,000,000 francs, he is an aggressive deputy, and no 
discussion takes place but finds him on the fighting 
line. He is the bite noir of the capitalists in the 
chamber. He annoys them, routs them out of their 
lethargy, prods them into activity, and goads them into 



140 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

fury. He is also an indefatigable propagandist, flying 
to all parts of Belgium to carry the message of social- 
ism. The son of a workman, Anseele is the very in- 
carnation of the working-class revolt. 

It is recorded that once, when about eighteen years 
of age, he heard by chance some socialists speak. One 
of them described the misery and wretchedness of the 
weavers of Ghent. Anseele wept. That meant some- 
thing for that lad, and since that hour he has been a 
revolutionist. In his youth he sold papers on the 
streets, he wrote socialist novels, and in the evening 
hours he carried on a ceaseless propaganda. As he 
was extremely poor, he often sold shirts and other ar- 
ticles to his audiences to pay his travelling expenses 
and to assist the propaganda. Later he became the 
editor of the local socialist paper, and was sent to 
prison for some months because after the soldiers had 
shot down some workers on strike, he called King Leo- 
pold, Assassin I, and issued a passionate appeal to the 
mothers, sisters, and sweethearts of the soldiers, beg- 
ging them to write to their dear ones in the army, de- 
manding that they refuse to fire upon their brothers, the 
working men. It would be impossible to recount what 
this man has accomplished by his superhuman activity 
during the last thirty years. 

The congress reminded me very much of the English 
one. It was cool, even-tempered, and efficient. There 
were no great orations delivered, and the questions dis- 
cussed had to do with definite and practical party work. 
For an outsider there was not a great deal of interest. 
After considering reports from the parliamentary group, 
the trade union group, the cooperative group, and the 
federated municipal councillors, the congress gave con- 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 141 

sideration to certain detailed questions of administra- 
tion, and to other matters largely of local interest. Louis 
Bertrand read an important report upon the eight-hour 
♦ day, and the old fight for universal suffrage came up 
under the form of a proposed electoral affiliation with 
the Liberal Party. Vandervelde in his report traced the 
history of the struggle for universal suffrage, and advo- 
cated affiliating with the Liberal Party for the purpose 
of combating the Clericals. The latter have always 
been the most obstinate opponents of universal suf- 
frage. It was, therefore, the opinion of Vandervelde 
that a general and concerted electoral affiliation should 
be worked out between the Liberals and the Labor 
Party which would enable them together to control 
practically all the municipal bodies of Belgium. 

The struggle for universal suffrage in Belgium has 
been a long, bitter, and insistent fight, extending over 
a half century. There have been two general strikes, 
countless riots, imprisoned and martyred workers. At 
all the congresses since the formation of the party, there 
has been a discussion of this question. One cannot over- 
estimate what the working-class of Belgium has suffered 
in the long struggle to obtain a more equitable electoral 
system. After the general strike of 1895 the old law was 
repealed ; but the new law, while marking an advance, 
well deserves the name that Anseele gave it, " The law 
of the four infamies/' This legislation still irritates the 
workers, and the suggestion of Vandervelde was con- 
sidered as perhaps the only means now available of 
forcing the government to grant a further extension of 
the suffrage. It should be said incidentally that elec- 
toral affiliations among the opposition parties are cus- 
tomary in Belgium ; but although the wisdom of such 



142 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

action is doubted by some members of the Labor Party, 
each section or federation has been left to do as it 
pleased in such cases, and the party statutes provide 
only that the principles of the party program shall not 
be sacrificed. The proposal of Vandervelde was, there- 
fore, not so unusual as at first appears. It proposed that 
instead of isolated instances of affiliation, the Labor 
Party should work out a consistent plan for affiliation 
with the Liberals in all parts of Belgium. After an in- 
teresting debate it was decided not to agree to a gen- 
eral plan, but to leave to the local federations freedom 
to do as they desired. 

This is perhaps the chief matter of interest to the 
outsider that came up for discussion. It was not what 
transpired at the congress that impressed one with the 
vital power of the Belgian movement. It was what was 
back of the congress. It was the thousands of work- 
ing men, women, and children bound together in a mul- 
titude of circles, cooperatives, mutualities, and unions 
that form the basis of working-class action. The 
Belgian movement is not dominated by politicians, nor 
held together by oratory. It is the expression of a 
class impulse. It is the precious result of the work of 
the men and women of the mines, mills, and factories, 
who after the hard toil of the day, give their love and 
labor to the upbuilding of their emancipatory institu- 
tions. Determined to free themselves from the unbear- 
able conditions of capitalism, they have created for 
themselves numberless organizations to support them 
id their conflict. 

To begin with, there are the syndicats, or trade unions. 
Although they have existed in Belgium from early 
times, and while almost every type can be found there. 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 43 

including "The Knights of Labor," copied from the 
•American organization, the trade union movement as a 
whole is weak. The reasons for this are various. In 
the first place the law has been most unfriendly to its 
development, its members have not seen the necessity 
for large dues and efficient, well-paid secretaries, and at 
present they have practically no paid organizers. At 
the time of a strike they often depend more upon as- 
sistance from the cooperatives than from their own 
treasuries. The trade unions also usually have a politi- 
cal or religious bias. There are, for instance, four 
types of unions: (1) those connected with the Liberal 
party ; (2) those connected with the Clerical party ; (3) 
those connected with the socialist party ; and (4) the 
Independents who refuse to affiliate themselves defi- 
nitely with any party. There are now about 148,483 
trade unionists in Belgium. Only 17,000 are Catholics, 
2000 are Liberals, about 31,000 are Independents, while 
94,000 are affiliated with the socialist party. It is 
obvious, therefore, that outside of the socialist and 
independent unions the movement is of little con- 
sequence. 

The Labor Party, realizing the weakness of the 
unions and their importance in working-class action, 
is now using all its power to build up a strong and 
virile trade union movement. Several of the ablest 
leaders are devoting their entire time trying to infuse 
a more militant spirit into the workers Propagandists 
are at work in all parts of Belgium, agitating for paid 
officials who can give all their time to the affairs of the 
unions. New organizations are being formed, and the 
old ones that have fallen into decay are being revived. 
As a result of these energetic efforts, one begins to see 



144 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

a great increase in membership that promises well for 
the future. 

Not all the unions, however, are badly organized, and 
those of Ghent have been of enormous service to the 
workers. The cooperatives, the mutualities, and the 
party work in perfect harmony, and together they have 
realized an immense progress. Through their political 
influence the unions have obtained from the city of 
Ghent an insurance scheme for assisting the unem- 
ployed members. Since 1901 the municipal council 
has given to unemployed union men one dollar for 
every dollar expended from the trade union treasury. 
This is a significant and important development, for it 
means that the unions no longer have to bear the entire 
responsibility for the unemployed. The scheme has 
spread from Ghent to other cities in Belgium, which 
now undertake a part of this heavy burden and cooper- 
ate with the unions to the extent, at least, of sharing 
the load. 

The next group of organizations connected with the 
Belgian movement are les Mutualites. They are mutual 
insurance societies such as we have in America. They 
existed in Belgium long before the formation of the 
Labor Party, when a number became affiliated to the po- 
litical movement. Some, however, were unable to do so 
at that time, as they included in their organization both 
employers and employees. In 1905, according to the 
Bureau of Labor, there were about 7000 such societies, 
organized to insure the workers and their families 
against sickness, old age, death, and similar misfortunes. 
Although this seems a large number for so small a 
country, there are still many others which do not report 
their affairs to the Bureau of Labor, and are, therefore, 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 145 

not included in the official reports. One of the most 
interesting of the latter is the Bond Moyson at Ghent, 
named in memory of one of the pioneer socialists of 
Flanders. In 1890, after a long discussion and a rather 
heated battle, all of the insurance societies in Ghent, 
excepting one, affiliated themselves to the group of 
socialist organizations centring about the Maison du 
Peuple. This consolidation was followed by an era of 
prosperity, and the members of the insurance organiza- 
tions increased from 4600 in 1897 to 10,323 in 1904, or 
including families to nearly 30,000 persons. Soon after 
the reorganization several new insurance measures were 
adopted. A new fund was established to provide 
against invalidity, and another for ordinary life insur- 
ance. The members of the Bond Moyson now obtain 
three classes of benefits : pensions, the care of a physi- 
cian and medicines, and bread supplies from the cooper- 
ative stores. In case of the death of the insured one, a 
pension is also given to the family. Special assistance 
is provided at the time of childbirth. As a new devel- 
opment a pension is now given to all those who have 
bought regularly at the cooperative stores for twenty 
years. And when they are 60 years old, they are given 
practically all their necessary supplies. Not only in 
Ghent has the system developed, but organizations 
similarly constituted and managed are a part of the 
movement in all the industrial districts of Belgium. 

The third group of organizations — the cooperatives 
— is perhaps the most important. They comprise 
almost every type of associated effort. One sees now 
in all the industrial towns of Belgium handsome stores, 
large assembly rooms, cafes, and restaurants, owned and 
administered by the working people themselves. In ad- 



I46 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

dition to the stores, where the activity is largely commer- 
cial, there are also several productive enterprises of note, 
and almost every town has at least one model bakery. 
In these bakeries the workmen have an eight-hour day 
with the maximum trade union wage. There are also 
breweries and cigar-making establishments, boot and 
shoe factories, printing shops, cotton mills, and dairies, 
— all conducted on the cooperative plan. 

It is again at Ghent that the organization is the best 
developed. To begin with there is the beautiful house 
of the Vooruit, which is called " Our House." In ad- 
dition to being a large department store, where almost 
everything that is required by the working people can 
be bought, it is a working men's club. There are rooms 
for meetings and for recreation, which in many ways re- 
semble those of the University Settlements in America. 
On the first floor of Our House is a large cafe, where 
about 1000 people can sit comfortably at the tables. 
No strongly alcoholic drinks are sold, although one can 
always obtain light beers and wines, tea, coffee, milk, 
and similar non-intoxicating drinks. In the evening the 
cafe is invariably filled with men, women, and children, — 
the weavers of Ghent. Above this room is a large and 
beautiful library, which is also used at times for lectures 
and meetings. On the same floor there are several 
committee rooms, while on the top floor there is a large 
assembly room, occasionally used as a theatre. All the 
rooms are handsomely decorated with mural paintings, 
illustrating in heroic forms the subject of Labor. 
Throughout the town there are many branch stores, 
and on the outskirts of the town there is a new model 
bakery with the most improved machinery, which pro- 
duces about 200,000 pounds of bread each week. In ad- 




CO 



DQ 



O 



u. 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 47 

dition, there are several branch libraries, a large cotton 
mill, and a well-equipped printing establishment, where 
two daily papers and most of the books, pamphlets, 
tracts, and other publications of the party are printed. 
For twenty cents a year every member of the coopera- 
tive, including altogether about 15 5,000 persons, receives 
regularly all publications of this print shop. 

Perhaps no more significant move has been made by 
the ever enterprising Anseele and the working men of 
Ghent than the buying of a fine old house in one of the 
most aristocratic quarters. It was formerly occupied by 
an exclusive club, but it was found too expensive to keep 
up ! Suddenly and quite secretly this house was bought 
by the weavers of Ghent, and it is now their club. It 
has a cafe, a library, a handsome theatre, and meeting- 
rooms, in addition to a large garden, which is used on 
Sundays and other fete days, for the games and assem- 
blies of the socialists. In the midst of this old aristo- 
cratic quarter Vooruit has placed its standard, and the 
neighbors now see the working people at games and 
dances, and hear at close hand the singing of the " In- 
ternationale," and other revolutionary songs. 

It is, of course, impossible to give in a short chapter 
an adequate conception of the development of the co- 
operatives, but the following figures may convey some 
idea of their extent. The annual sales of the distribu- 
tive stores in Belgium during 1906 amounted to about 
32,000,000 francs, and out of the profits benefits were 
allotted to the members amounting to over 3,000,000. 
This latter sum was distributed to about 120,000 persons 
who were affiliated with the cooperatives. The total 
sales from the various productive enterprises, which in- 
clude breweries, bakeries, dairies, and so forth, during 



I48 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the same year amounted to about 1,500,000 francs. The 
value of these organizations, however, does not He only 
in the amount of money which they distribute to their 
members; they also furnish supplies in immense quan- 
tities to the strikers when there is any great battle on 
between employers and employees. In addition they 
supply funds to carry on many other working-class ac- 
tivities. The Maison da Petiple of Brussels, to mention 
but one instance, during the six years, from 1 897-1 903, 
gave to the socialist propaganda half a million francs. 
Another useful service rendered by the cooperatives is 
the aid they give to those agitators and propagandists 
of the labor movement who have been blacklisted by 
their employers. These men can always find work to 
do in the cooperative establishments, and still have time 
free to carry on their propaganda. 

The fourth development of the working-class spirit is 
the Labor Party itself. It is the bond which unites all 
the various activities. It is meant to express the 
views and aspirations of the working people politically. 
The party has now in parliament 30 deputies and seven 
senators. In the municipal councils of Belgium it has 
500 represent?,:: ves, and its total socialist vote is about 
half a million. While the unions fight the battles 
of the workers on the economic field, and endeavor to 
force the employers to accord them better conditions 
and higher wages, the cooperatives strive to displace 
the middle man in commerce, and to gain for the 
workers immense advantages in buying the necessaries 
of life. But the workers of Belgium realize that neither 
of these efforts alone can accomplish their complete 
emancipation. They do not undervalue the economic 
movements. On the contrary, they promote and 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 1 49 

strengthen them in every possible way ; but they fully 
realize that so long as the capitalists control the ma- 
chinery of government, the workers must remain a 
subject class. They, therefore, seek to conquer the gov- 
ernment, and toward this end the party carries on a 
ceaseless propaganda with its six daily papers, reaching 
over 106,000 persons daily, 22 weeklies, and 14 month- 
lies. 

The printing establishment of the Brussels " daily " 
is in a handsome building, with spacious quarters and 
everything required for publishing a first-class daily 
paper. There are large editorial offices, light and airy 
workrooms for the compositors, and ample quarters for 
the five large presses. The biggest press was at the 
time of my visit printing the daily papers for two other 
towns about two hours from Brussels. On another 
machine an illustrated weekly was being printed. The 
Brussels daily, " Le Peuple," sells for one cent, while the 
papers for the smaller towns sell for two centimes, or 
less than a half cent. The committee in charge of the 
press has decided recently to issue a new daily for one 
centime, or one-fifth of a cent. This gives some idea 
of the enterprise and business methods of the Belgian 
socialists. 

Of course there are efforts made in other direc- 
tions as well to promote the propaganda. A large 
number of party members are speaking and agitating 
all the time. At the cooperative theatres socialist plays 
are given. A clever method of spreading the party 
views among the poorest workers is through the medium 
of cinematographs. Between scenes there are shown 
mottoes, and short phrases expressing socialist opinions. 
Political criticisms, words of enthusiasm and revolt are 



150 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

thrown on the canvas, and in this way the poorest and 
most ill-educated workers gain some idea of the aims 
of socialism. There is also a university in Brussels 
under the control of the socialists. 

The efficiency of the Belgian socialists is impressive. 
For poor working men to have built up these great 
properties, and now to carry them on with such ability, 
is nothing short of miraculous. They are proving in 
the face of a hostile class their own capacity, and learn- 
ing day by day their own worth. Collective enterprise 
has its difficulties, associated effort its trials. They 
are learning what these difficulties and trials are ; and 
they are also learning something more profound — how 
to suppress brutal egoism, and how to serve the com- 
monweal. It is that which glorifies the Belgian move- 
ment, and gives even to the observer a profound and 
comforting spiritual uplift. But the workers have a hard 
fight against a reactionary government, which never 
ceases to combat their cooperatives, unions, and political 
party. 

To the workers of Belgium nothing has been given ; 
not a step has been taken without suffering. Indeed, 
it was misery that drove them together. Their own 
suffering and the memory of martyred brothers have so 
united their life and spirit, that not a single important 
division has occurred in the movement during the last 
twenty years. They are not moved by doctrines, and 
they give free play to any one who has a plan for re- 
lieving distress. They would never think of neglecting 
any opportunity open to them to fight the battle of the 
disinherited. They scorn no method ; they eagerly 
use and develop all. They believe in cooperation, in 
trade unions, in municipal ownership, and in national 



THE BELGIAN LABOR PARTY 151 

ownership; they believe in economic action and in 

political action ; indeed, when any one of these is but 
weakly developed, the whole party with hearty good- 
will devotes all the energy at its command to the 
task of strengthening it. While others have been 
discussing theories and quarrelling over differences 
in method, the working-class movement in this little 
paradise of the capitalists has been born and has 
grown to full maturity. 

It is not hard to explain why it is the Belgian working- 
class is so fortunate, or why, in the face of so many 
difficulties, it is able to accomplish such a magnificent 
work. It has learned the value of unity and the power 
of concerted action. The advice and example of 
old Cesar de Paepe was ever before them. He coun- 
selled solidarity the day the party was born, and he 
never ceased urging its supreme importance. It is, 
therefore, significant that in 1890, as he was carried 
away from Brussels to die in Southern France, he 
should have written these words to the then assembled 
congress of the party : " I beg of you one permission, 
one only. Permit an old socialist, who has been in the 
breach for more than thirty-three years, and who has 
already seen so many ups and downs, so many periods 
of progress and of reaction in the revolutionary Belgian 
parties, to give you counsel. That is : be careful above 
all, in all your deliberations and resolutions, to maintain 
among the different factions of the party and among 
the more or less extreme or moderate tendencies the 
closest possible ttnion, and to prevent all that can con- 
stittcte even a suspicion of division. Naturally this 
implies that it is necessary to commence by forgetting 
the divisions that have existed in the past. To divide 



152 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

you in order the better to oppress you, such is the tactic 
of your enemies. Flee from divisions ; avoid them ; 
crush them in the egg; such ought to be your tactic, 
and to that end may your program remain the broad- 
est possible, and your title remain general enough to 
shelter all who, in the Belgian proletariat, wish to 
work for the emancipation, intellectual and material, 
political and economic, of the mass of the disinherited. " 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 

It is but natural that the reader should begin to ask, 
What is all this movement about ? What is wanted ? 
Why this extraordinary organization of working men 
in every country, and what do they seek to accomplish ? 
It is not my purpose in this book to attempt to answer 
adequately these questions, but rather to describe the 
movement, and to convey a precise impression of its 
Dresent influence; I must, therefore, refer inquiring 
readers to other books which treat particularly of the 
aims and principles of socialism.* Nevertheless, I 
realize the necessity for a brief outline here of the 
historic basis of modern socialism, and of its funda- 
mental doctrines. 

Many people appear to be more interested in the 
methods by which socialists endeavor to obtain their 
ends than in the ends themselves. To such persons 
the word " revolution " is apt to signify merely a question 
of method, confused, therefore, with violence and in- 
surrection. When socialists use the term, as they do 
frequently, it is almost invariably without any implica- 
tion of violence. There are unquestionably a few semi- 
anarchists who from time to time associate themselves 
with the movement, and by inflammatory addresses 
convey the impression that the socialists expect to 
* See p. 364, 
*53 



154 SOOAIJSTS AT WORK 

attain their ends by resort to open warfare. Lieb- 
knecht once said, " The frothy and theatrical phrases 
of the fanatic supporters of the ' class struggle ' dogma 
are at bottom a cover for the Machiavellian schemes 
of the reactionaries. In nearly every country such 
irresponsible agitators have been excluded from the 
movement. But while modern socialism condemns 
violence, it is everywhere frankly revolutionary. 

It is perhaps too much to expect that the prese nt 
struggle between labor and capital should proceed at 
all times peacefully. History has known many revolu- 
tions, nearly all of which have been the culmination of 
class struggles, wherein the force of the people has 
been spent without their knowing precisely what they 
sought to attain. Nearly all the early struggles, as ::: 
instance the struggle of the serfs against their masters, 
or that of the present dominant class against the old 
feudal landowning aristocracy, ended in violence and 
bloodshed. In the face of history, therefore, it would 
seem absurd for one to prophesy concerning the out- 
come of the present struggle between the workers and 
the capitalists, for certainly none of the previous up- 
risings were as truly revolutionary as the present. And 
if one considers that when the contemplated revolution 
is accomplished it means the rise to power of the work- 
ing-class, and the abolition of private property in the 
means of production, it would seem almost incredible 
that it should take place in all countries without violence. 
Nevertheless everywhere, and at all times, the re- 
sponsible leaders urge the masses to pursue a peaceful 
political course. Marx and Engels spent a good part 
of their lives trying to convert the working-class from 
the methods of violence, conspiracy, and insurrection 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 155 

advocated by the anarchists. In 1850 Marx resigned 
from the central committee of the famous Communist 
Alliance because they sought to substitute " revolu- 
tionary phrases for revolutionary evolution " ; and he 
told them with biting sarcasm that they would very 
likely have to go through a half-century of preparation 
before they could change themselves and make them- 
selves worthy of political power. 

Both Liebknecht and Jaures, two of the ablest parlia- 
mentary leaders the socialist movement has produced, 
have again and again spoken of the necessity for 
gaining a considerable majority of the people before 
attempting to put socialist principles into operation. 
Liebknecht says : " It would be both stupid and in- 
genuous to exact that we should have a majority sealed 
and ready in our pockets before we began to apply our 
principles. But it would be still more ingenuous to 
imagine that we could put our principles into practice 
against the will of the immense majority of the nation. 
This is a fatal error, for which the French socialists 
have paid dear. Is it possible to put up a more heroic 
fight than did the workmen of Paris and Lyons ? And 
has not every struggle ended in a bloody defeat, the 
most horrible reprisals on the part of the victors, and a 
long period of exhaustion for the proletariat? The 
French workers have not yet fully grasped the im- 
portance of organization and propaganda, and that is 
why up to the present moment they have been beaten 
with perfect regularity. . . . Not to contract, but to 
expand," he continues, " should be our motto. The 
circle of socialism should widen more and more until 
zve have converted most of our adversaries to bei?ig 
friends, or at least disarmed their opposition. And the 



156 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

indifferent mass that in peaceful days has no weight 
in the political balance, but becomes the decisive force 
in times of agitation, ought to be so fully enlightened 
as to the aims and essential ideas of our party, that it 
will cease to fear us and can no longer be used as a 
weapon against us. All the legislative measures which 
we shall support, if the opportunity is given us, ought 
to have for their object to prove the fitness of socialism 
to serve the common good." 

This is very much the line of argument taken by the 
leaders of the movement. There is not a single social- 
ist of prominence who believes that a change in condi- 
tions can be forced upon society contrary to the inherent 
social forces and the natural evolutionary processes work- 
ing out in society. For the first time perhaps in the 
history of the world a constructive revolutionary move- 
ment is forming that is based upon a definite doctrine, 
scientifically deduced from the facts of history and 
social evolution. Far from advocating violence, social- 
ism realizes, even more than its opponents, that it has 
all to gain and nothing to lose by the peaceful method. 
It already has adherents numbered by the million, its 
representatives in parliament, its exponents in literature, 
and its friends in every class of society. It is intelli- 
gently led and organized in almost every industrial 
centre of Western Europe for study, propaganda, and 
political action. And it is daily increasing in strength. 
Why, therefore, should it seek to use violence or to en- 
courage insurrection, both of which means are to a 
certain extent even contradictory to its principles and 
its method of organization ? 

So much for the methods of contemporary socialism. 
In order to make clear the basis of its program it is 




A Few Socialist Newspapers. 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 1 57 

necessary briefly to review modern industrial history, 
as the entire socialist doctrine is based upon the eco- 
nomic evolution of the last century and a half. It is 
well known that the last great revolution placed in 
power the capitalist class. Previous to that time, the 
trader, the man of commerce, the capitalist, was looked 
down upon by the landed aristocracies and feudal lords 
as a person of inferior estate. Men of business had 
practically no political standing, and the old aristocracies, 
in order to maintain their privileges and unearned in- 
comes, placed many intolerable restrictions upon trade, 
commerce, and industry. In the face of these restric- 
tions capitalism could make no headway, and in order 
to gain freedom of commerce and a fuller development 
of industrial life, the capitalists, with the help of the 
masses, broke the political power of the landed aristoc- 
racies. The result of this revolution was a marked 
change in the relative positions of the various classes ; 
and nearly everywhere the landed class are to-day less 
powerful in government than the trader, the man of 
commerce, and the capitalist, all of whom they used to 
look down upon and despise. 

With the advent of modern capitalism there came 
into the world a new class called wage-workers. Their 
condition differs fundamentally from that of the working- 
classes in the earlier periods of history. The workers 
were first slaves, later serfs, and just before the introduc- 
tion of capitalism, the main body of them were peasants, 
artisans, and craftsmen. The artisans and craftsmen 
mostly worked in their own homes, with their own tools, 
and the product of their labor was almost entirely their own. 
Excepting for such rates, rents, and dues as were paid to 
the upper classes and to the government, the workers were 



158 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

largely free from exploitation. They produced mainly 
for their own use, and it was common in those days for 
all members of the family to work together in the home, 
— brewing, baking, dyeing, weaving, and spinning. On 
a bit of soil attached to the cottage many of the neces- 
saries of life were grown, and only the most wretched 
of the populace were without livestock. This simple 
form of production could not realize great wealth, but 
there was little starvation, no unemployment, and, ex- 
cepting when the crops were destroyed through natural 
causes, the people were able to live tolerably comfort- 
ably. The peasant sold to the artisan agricultural 
produce, and bought from him the products of his 
handicraft. 

At the end of the eighteenth century the advent of 
steam power altered the whole method of production. 
This period is called in history the industrial revolution. 
The spinning-wheel, the hand-loom, the blacksmith's 
hammer, were replaced by the spinning machine, the 
power loom, and the steam hammer. The individual 
workshop was replaced by the factory. Industrial 
cities came into being, and millions of people in 
Western Europe left their small homes, abandoned 
their cottage industries, to live in great tenements and 
to work in great factories. A mighty change took 
place in the industrial life, and the old individual form 
of production was replaced by a social form in which 
masses of men cooperated. 

This gave rise to modern capitalism. It was im- 
possible for the individual workman to own the new 
tool. It was large and costly in the beginning, 
and with every new decade it grew larger and more 
costly. To-day the tool is a vast machine run by steam 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 159 

or electrical power, and enclosed in great buildings. 
In the early days of this new form of industry there 
were crying social abuses. The people were herded 
together in the worst quarters, in great and insanitary 
barracks. All the traditional moral bonds of the old 
order were burst asunder. Women and children worked 
underground and overground like beasts, and the work- 
ing-class in general was reduced almost to a state of 
savagery. 

These industrial changes revolutionized the face of 
the world. Gigantic wealth was made possible. Pro- 
duction for domestic use was replaced by production for 
national and international markets. It was a period of 
feverish competition, of stupendous labor, of gigantic 
commercial undertakings, and of big industrial horizons. 
At a mighty bound the capitalist class rose to a domi- 
nant position in modern life. At the same time there 
came into the world newer and intenser forms of 
misery. 

Under the old domestic system the workman could, 
so long as he had health, provide himself and his family 
with the necessaries of life. If his skill was not great, 
he remained poor ; but at any rate he earned a living. 
He was not employed or unemployed according to the 
will of another. Under the new regime he worked only 
when the great machine worked. He sold himself day 
by day to an employer. He became propertyless, as he 
could neither own his tools nor his tenement. In other 
words he became dependent, first upon an employer, 
second upon a machine, and then upon the state of the 
markets. When the machine stopped working, he was 
instantly deprived of the means of life. Without fields 
in which he could work, or the individual tools of the 



l60 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

old order, he was precipitated into pauperism by the 
slightest industrial derangement. His wages were 
little more than sufficient to keep him and his family 
while he was at work, and when illness, accident, un- 
employment, or death occurred, the family was face to 
face with misery. In the old order there was a certain 
security of existence ; in the new order there was none. 
At certain periods the distress of the working-classes 
became acute. Great commercial crises and financial 
convulsions paralyzed all industry. " Since 1825, when 
the first general crisis broke out," says Frederick Engels, 
" the whole industrial and commercial world, production 
and exchange among all civilized peoples and their more 
or less barbaric hangers-on, are thrown out of joint 
about once every ten years. Commerce is at a standstill, 
the markets are glutted, products accumulate, as multi- 
tudinous as they are unsalable, hard cash disappears, 
credit vanishes, factories are closed, the mass of the 
workers are in want of the means of subsistence, because 
they have produced too much of the means of subsistence; 
bankruptcy follows upon bankruptcy, execution upon 
execution. The stagnation lasts for years ; productive 
forces and products are wasted and destroyed wholesale, 
until the accumulated mass of commodities finally filter 
off, more or less depreciated in value, until production 
and exchange gradually begin to move again. Little by 
little the pace quickens. It becomes a trot The in- 
dustrial trot breaks into a canter, the canter in turn 
grows into a headlong gallop of a perfect steeplechase 
of industry, commercial credit, and speculation, which 
finally, after breakneck leaps, ends where it began — in 
the ditch of a crisis. And so over and over again. We 
have now, since the year 1825, gone through this five 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM l6l 

times, and at the present moment (1877) we are going 
through it for the sixth time. And the character of 
these crises is so clearly defined that Fourier hit all of 
them off, when he described the first as ' crise pletho- 
riquej — a crisis from plethora." 

These industrial paralyses forced the attention of the 
capitalists to the dangers of unrestricted competition. It 
was a new kind of warfare in which capitalists destroyed 
each other in commercial and industrial battles. At 
times, the whole nation stood amazed in the face of 
these appalling crises. With no lack of natural oppor- 
tunities or resources, with no adverse natural conditions, 
with superb machines and great factories, with an 
earnest and laborious working-class, the empty factories 
and silent machines facing millions of unemployed and 
starving men, proved above all the necessity of ending 
the competitive warfare. Thus competition gradually 
gave way to monopoly. One capitalist, it is said, de- 
stroys many, and the smaller were eaten up by the 
larger, until to-day in all the great countries many of the 
most important industries have been combined into 
trusts. The very conditions of modern life forced it ; 
the crises, the panics, the bankruptcies, the fearful 
periodic disturbances of economic life. 

Out of this anarchy of industry developed great organ- 
izations of capital, and with them there appeared a new 
class. In the early days the capitalists were mainly 
skilled workmen or managers possessing a small amount 
of capital, or in a position to borrow capital. They 
were often the hardest and most capable workers ; but 
with the new organization of industry, and especially 
with the enormous increase of wealth, the capitalist 
became more and more divorced from actual manage- 



1 62 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ment, and more and more merely the owner of stocks 
and bonds. With each generation this evolution is more 
marked, and as the property leaves the hands of the old 
captains of industry it passes into the hands of sons and 
relatives who do not themselves actively participate in 
industrial operations. A new class begins to emerge, 
similar in many respects to the privileged classes of the 
old feudal regime, and more and more it becomes true that 
from the moment when you become a proprietor of land, 
of houses, or of the machinery of production, you may 
as Henry George says, " sit down and smoke your pipe ; 
you may lie about like the lazzaroni of Naples or the 
lepers of Mexico ; you may go up in a balloon or dig a 
hole in the ground, and all the time, without any act of 
yours, the rent of the house and farm, and the interest 
on your other capital, will keep dropping steadily into 
your hands." 

On this industrial history of the last century the 
socialist program is based. In the Communist Mani- 
festo, published in 1848, Marx gives a masterly survey 
of the industrial revolution then reaching its culmina- 
tion in a society dominated by capitalism. He gives 
full credit to the vast accomplishments of the new order 
when he says that during its rule of scarce a hundred 
years it " has created more massive and colossal produc- 
tive forces than all the preceding generations together. 
Subjection of Nature's forces to man, machinery, appli- 
cation of chemistry to industry and agriculture, steam 
navigation, railways, electric telegraphs, clearing :f 
whole continents for cultivation, canalization of rivei 
whole populations conjured out of the ground — what 
earlier century had even a presentiment that such pro- 
ductive forces slumbered in the lap of social labor ?" 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 1 6$ 

At the same time Marx points out that modern so- 
ciety, which has conjured up such gigantic means of 
production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is 
no longer able to control the powers of the nether 
world which he has evoked by his spells. Like the 
prince in the fable, another writer has said,* capitalism 
seems i to have released from his prison the genie of 
competition, only to find that he is unable to control 
him. The poor, the drunk, the incompetent, the sick, 
the aged, ride modern society like a nightmare, and the 
legislation of the past hundred years is a perpetual and 
fruitless effort to regulate the disorders of the economic 
system. 

In the midst of this chaos Marx saw that a new class 
was being formed, the modern wage-workers, which was 
performing all the important industrial functions, while 
the capitalists were becoming less and less important 
to industry. From a purely scientific point of view it 
was natural that the useful class should persist and the 
useless class be thrown aside. At least it was incon- 
gruous that the useful class should continue to be the 
poorest class, and especially that it should be content 
to suffer the insecurity of livelihood made inevitable 
by the capitalist system. That men should consent to 
be employed or unemployed at the caprice of a class 
which produced for the sake of profit only, and which 
stopped all production when the profits decreased, was 
inconceivable. The machine having become a social 
necessity must be owned socially. To have the ma- 
chinery of production continue in the ownership of a 
class that did not use it, and used by a class that did 
not own it, was not only economically unsound, but so- 

* " Letters from a Chinese Official,' 7 



i64 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

cially intolerable. To Marx's mind it was certain that 
the wage-workers, the producers, who bore the bur- 
dens of modern industry, would in time revolt against 
the growing class of parasites who lived upon rents, 
interests, profits, and other forms of unearned incomes. 
As early as 1848 Marx described the tentative struggles 
of the working-class against capitalism. " At first," he 
says, " the contest is carried on by individual laborers, 
then by the workpeople of a factory, then by the op- 
eratives of one trade, in one locality, against the indi- 
vidual bourgeois who directly exploits them. They 
direct their attacks not against the capitalist conditions 
of production, but against the instruments of produc- 
tion themselves; they destroy imported wares that 
compete with their labor, they smash to pieces ma- 
chinery, they set factories ablaze, they seek to restore 
by force the vanished status of the workman of the 
Middle Ages. At this stage the laborers still form 
an incoherent mass scattered over the whole country, 
and broken up by their mutual competition. 

"With the development of industry," he goes on to 
say, " the proletariat not only increases in number ; it 
becomes concentrated in greater masses; its strength 
grows, and it feels that strength more. The various 
interests and conditions of life within the ranks of the 
proletariat are more and more equalized, in proportion 
as machinery obliterates all distinctions of labor, and 
nearly everywhere reduces wages to the same low level. 
The growing competition among the capitalists, and 
the resulting commercial crises, make the wages of 
the workers ever more fluctuating. The unceasing 
improvement of machinery, ever more rapidly devel- 
oping, makes their livelihood more and more preca- 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 1 65 

rious ; the collisions between individual workmen and 
individual capitalists take more and more the character 
of collisions between two classes. . . . Now and then 
the workers are victorious, but only for a time. The 
real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate re- 
sult, but iii the ever expanding union of the workers" 

The fundamental cause of this class antagonism is 
the individual ownership of the means of production. 
To eliminate class strife, and to harmonize the interests 
of society, it is necessary to socialize these means of 
production. Marx, however, takes a very broad view 
of the evolutionary process which will end by consti- 
tuting a new and social form of ownership of capi- 
tal. He did not believe it would proceed in any 
foreordained way. In the program of the Social 
Democratic Party of Germany, which his disciples 
framed, there is no suggestion of national or munici- 
pal ownership. His view was far broader and more 
comprehensive, based as it was upon scientific and 
historical principles. First of all he advocated the 
organization of working men, of a nation within a 
nation, of the useful class against the useless class. 
He wanted the working-class to realize consciously 
their power and the historic role they must play in 
the evolution of industry. To teach the working-class 
self-reliance and self-respect, to educate them, and to 
organize them politically and economically in order 
that they should take into their own hands the ad- 
ministration of the state, are fundamental principles of 
Marxism. The measures by which socialism would be 
introduced must vary in different countries in relation 
to the political and social institutions of the country. 
Marx, therefore, did not prescribe definitely how the 



1 66 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

capital essential to industry should be socialized. The 
first and most important step toward that end was 
the complete organization of the working-class on the 
political and economic fields in order that they might 
become conscious of their power, and in truth the 
arbiters of their own destiny. 

Toward this end' all socialist parties are working. 
The working-class is developing self-reliance, self- 
respect, and political capacity. It has already, as I 
have shown, its own press, its congresses or parlia- 
ments, national and international, that meet together 
to discuss the program and tactics of the party, and 
the methods of taking into its own hands modern in- 
dustrial operations. Besides its political organization, 
with its men in parliaments and municipal councils, 
it has also organized in all lands its trade unions, which 
also have a press, a literature, a program, and parlia- 
ments, national and international. In Belgium, Eng- 
land, and elsewhere, great cooperative enterprises are 
conducted by the working-class ; so that at present the 
second largest commercial undertaking in England is 
owned by the workers, and one of the largest in Bel- 
gium by the socialists. In other words, the movement 
is forcing its way, politically, industrially, and commer- 
cially, into power. Very much the same methods that 
the capitalist class used in the old feudal regime the 
rising working-class is using to undermine the princi- 
ples, privileges, and power of the present order. 

At the moment, some of the largest industries in the 
world are managed and worked by paid presidents, 
managers, superintendents, skilled and unskilled ma- 
chine operators, and general laborers ; that is to say, 
by the working-class. It would be absurd to suppose 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 1 67 

that the Vanderbilts are essential to the conduct of the 
New York Central Railroad, or that Mr. Astor is essen- 
tial to the management of his landed property ; and 
Mr. Rockefeller, it is said, confesses to " an ignorance 
of the affairs of his great concern which should cause 
his immediate removal by any sane board of directors. " 
Whether the latter is true or not is not important. In 
the next generation the affairs of this gigantic enter- 
prise will be largely managed by paid employees. The 
capitalists have organized industry so well that they 
have organized themselves out of it. They are in most 
instances no longer essential to it. This industrial evo- 
lution which has given to salaried men and wage-work- 
ers the management and superintendence of industry 
will only complete itself when the workers themselves 
own the capital. Little by little they gain force, and 
day by day become more fully conscious of their own 
power and the role they are to play in this evolution 
leading toward the socialization of industry. 

This is briefly the historic and economic basis that 
forms the groundwork of the socialist contention. A 
similar resume accompanies all the various national pro- 
grams, either as a statement of principles, or an intro- 
duction to the immediate demands. One can take up 
the program of any one of the national parties, and 
find in all very much the same thought expressed. 
Where there exists a difference, it is not so much due to 
a critical attitude on the part of the socialists, as it is to 
the belief that local color will add to the effectiveness of 
the general statement. I have chosen to take as an ex- 
ample of these official programs the one adopted by the 
German party, because it has served as the basis of 
many others. It was the work of the closest friends 



1 68 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

and most enthusiastic disciples of Marx, and was almost 
a literal following out of his instructions. It, therefore, 
has exceptional value from a documentary point of view, 
and while it is heavy and rather technical, it has the 
advantage of being authoritative. 

It will be seen that the German program epitomizes 
what I have already said, and it is in fact a condensation 
of the fundamental position of contemporary socialism. 
Most of the doctrines were first stated in the Communist 
Manifesto published in 1848. They were then adopted 
in 1869 as the basis of the first Social Democratic Labor 
Party in Germany ; but in 1875, in order to achieve unity 
between the Lassallians and the Marxists the program 
was altered, and many ideas of Lassalle were accepted 
in the face of the very vigorous opposition of Marx. 
Finally, however, in 1891 the German congress revised 
its program, and adopted a thorough and comprehensive 
Marxian position. The thought of contemporary social- 
ism has, therefore, remained almost unchanged for over 
half a century. There has been a good deal of criticism 
of its main doctrines. The progressive concentration of 
capital, which is the subject of the first and second para- 
graphs, has been severely criticised. The increasing 
misery of the masses has been denied, and the class 
struggle has been the subject of very lively debates both 
inside and outside the party. The great discussion which 
occurred between Kautsky and Bernstein a few years 
ago was really based upon a consideration of these doc- 
trines of the party, but although the discussion created 
an immense interest outside of the party, the political 
organizations in every country have remained faithful to 
the older views, and there seems to be no disposition on 
the part of the masses to ask for a revision. 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 169 

The Erfurt Social Democratic Program 
of October, 1891 

The economic development of industrial society tends inevi- 
tably to the ruin of small industries, which are based upon the 
workman's private ownership of the means of production. It 
separates him from these means of production, and converts 
him into a destitute member of the proletariat, whilst a com- 
paratively small number of capitalists and great landowners 
obtain a monopoly of the means of production. 

Hand in hand with this growing monopoly goes the crushing 
out of existence of these shattered small industries by industries 
of colossal growth, the development of the tool into the machine, 
and a gigantic increase in the productiveness of human labor. 
But all the advantages of this revolution are monopolized by the 
capitalists and great landowners. To the proletariat and to the 
rapidly sinking middle classes, the small tradesmen of the towns, 
and the peasant proprietors, it brings an increasing uncertainty 
of existence, increasing misery, oppression, servitude, degrada- 
tion, and exploitation. 

Ever greater grows the mass of the proletariat, ever vaster 
the army of the unemployed, ever sharper the contrast between 
oppressors and oppressed, ever fiercer that war of classes between 
bourgeoisie and proletariat which divides modern society into 
two hostile camps, and is the common characteristic of every 
industrial country. The gulf between the propertied classes 
and the destitute is widened by the crises arising from capitalist 
production, which becomes daily more comprehensive and om- 
nipotent, which makes universal uncertainty the normal condi- 
tion of society, and which furnishes a proof that the forces of 
production have outgrown the existing social order, and that 
private ownership of the means of production has become in- 
compatible with their full development and their proper appli- 
cation/ 

Private ownership of the means of production, formerly the 



170 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

means of securing his product to the producer, has now become 
the means of expropriating the peasant proprietors, the artisans, 
and the small tradesmen, and placing the non-producers, the 
capitalists, and large landowners in possession of the products 
of labor. Nothing but the conversion of capitalist private 
ownership of the means of production — the earth and its 
fruits, mines, and quarries, raw material, tools, machines, means 
of exchange — into social ownership, and the substitution of 
socialist production, carried on by and for society in the place 
of the present production of commodities for exchange, can 
effect such a revolution, that, instead of large industries and the 
steadily growing capacities of common production being, as 
hitherto, a source of misery and oppression to the classes whom 
they have despoiled, they may become a source of the highest 
well-being and of the most perfect and comprehensive har- 
mony. 

This social revolution involves the emancipation, not merely 
of the proletariat, but of the whole human race, which is suf- 
fering under existing conditions. But this emancipation can be 
achieved by the working-class alone, because all other classes, 
in spite of their mutual strife of interests, take their stand upon 
the principle of private ownership of the means of production, 
and have a common interest in maintaining the existing social 
order. 

The struggle of the working-classes against capitalist exploita- 
tion must of necessity be a political struggle. The working- 
classes can neither carry on their economic struggle nor develop 
their economic organization without political rights. They 
cannot effect the transfer of the means of production to the 
community without being first invested with political power. 

It must be the aim of social democracy to give conscious 
unanimity to this struggle of the working-classes, and to indicate 
the inevitable goal. 

The interests of the working-classes are identical in all lands 
governed by capitalist methods of production. The extension 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 171 

of the world's commerce and production for the world's markets 
make the position of the workman in any one country daily more 
dependent upon that of the workman in other countries. There- 
fore, the emancipation of labor is a task in which the workmen 
of all civilized lands have a share. Recognizing this, the Social 
Democrats of Germany feel and declare themselves at one 
with the workmen of every land, who are conscious of the 
destinies of their class. 

The German Social Democrats are not, therefore, righting 
for new class privileges and rights, but for the abolition of class 
government, and even of classes themselves, and for universal 
equality in rights and duties, without distinction of sex or rank. 
Holding these views, they are not merely fighting against the 
exploitation and oppression of the wage-earners in the existing 
social order, but against every kind of exploitation and oppres- 
sion, whether directed against class, party, sex, or race. 

Following the above general statement of principles 
come the immediate demands. I have not included 
these because they apply particularly to German con- 
ditions, and an American would gain from them little 
idea of what the socialists are trying to obtain in the 
way of specific reforms. Naturally these demands vary 
in each country according to the stage of political democ- 
racy, the advance in labor legislation, and the extent of 
social reform. In Germany autocratic institutions force 
the party to make demands which it is not necessary to 
make in England, and in America the party is forced to 
demand labor legislation which exists already in Germany. 
For this reason no one program conveys a complete idea 
of this phase of socialist activity. This objection applies 
with considerable force to the Belgian program, which I 
have thought advisable to use, but as it is in many 
ways the most perfect in structure and completeness that 



172 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

I have happened to see, it will serve as a very useful 
guide to the reader. 

Political Program of the Belglan - Labor Party 

Electoral Reform. — Universal suffrage without distinction 
of sex for all ranks (age limit, twenty-one ; residence, six 
months); proportional representation : election expenses to be 
charged on the public authorities ; payment of elected persons ; 
elected persons to be bound by pledges according to law \ 
electorates to have the right of unseating elected persons. 

Decentralization of Political Power. — Suppression of the 
Senate ; creation of legislative councils, representing the differ- 
ent functions of society (industry, commerce, agriculture, edu- 
cation, etc.) ; such councils to be autonomous, within the 
limits of their competence, except from the veto of parliament ; 
and to be federated for the study and defence of their common 
interests. 

Communal Autonomy. — Mayors to be nominated by the 
electorate ; small communes tg be fused or federated ; creation 
of elected committees corresponding to the different branches 
of communal administration. 

Direct Legislation. — Right of popular initiative and ref- 
erendum in legislative, provincial, and communal matters. 

Reform of Education. — Primary, all-round, free, secular, 
compulsory instruction at the expense of the state ; maintenance 
by public authorities of children attending the schools ; inter- 
mediate and higher instruction to be free, secular, and at the 
expense of the state : assimilation of communal teachers to 
the state's educational officials : creation of a superior council 
of education, elected by the school committees, who are to or- 
ganize the inspection and control of free schools and of official 
schools \ organization of trade education, and obligation of all 
children to learn manual work ; autonomy of the state univer- 
sities, and legal recognition of the free universities ; university 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 173 

extension to be organized at the expense of the public authori- 
ties. 

Separation of the Churches and the State. — Suppression of 
the grant for public worship ; philosophic or religious associa- 
tions to be civil persons at law. 

Revision of Sections in the Civil Code concerning Marriage 
and the Paternal Authority. — Civil equality of the sexes, and 
of children, whether legitimate or illegitimate ; revision of the 
divorce laws, maintaining the husband's liability to support the 
wife or the children ; inquiry into paternity to be legalized ; 
protective measures in favor of children materially or morally 
abandoned. 

Judicial Reform. — Application of the elective principle 
to all jurisdictions ; reduction of the number of magistrates ; 
justice without fees ; state payment of advocates and officials 
of the courts; magisterial examination in penal cases to be 
public ; persons prosecuted to be medically examined ; victims 
of judicial errors to be indemnified. 

Extension of Liberties. — Suppression of measures restrict- 
ing any of the liberties. 

Suppression of Armies. — Organization provisionally of 
national militia. 

Suppression of hereditary offices, and establishment of a 
republic. 

Economic Program. — General Measures 

Organization of Statistics. — Creation of a ministry of labor ; 
pecuniary aid from the public authorities for the organization 
of labor secretariats by workmen and employers. 

Legal Recognition of Associations. — Especially of trade 
unions ; reform of the law on friendly societies and cooperative 
societies, and subsidies from the public authorities ; repression 
of infringements of the right of combination. 

Legal Regulation of the Contract of Employment. — Exten- 
sion to all industries of laws protecting labor, and especially 



174 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to agriculture, shipping, and fishing; fixing of a minimum 
wage and maximum of hours of labor for workers, industrial 
or agricultural, employed by the state, the communes, the 
provinces, or the contractors for public works ; intervention 
of workers, and especially of workers' unions, in the framing of 
rules; suppression of fines, suppression of workshop savings- 
banks and benefit clubs ; fixing a maximum of 6000 francs 
for public servants and managers. 

Transformation of Public Charity into a General Insurance 
of all Citizens. — Against unemployment ; against disablement 
(sickness, accident, old age) ; against death (widows and 
orphans). 

Reorganization of Public Finances. — Abolition of indirect 
taxes, especially taxes on food and customs tariffs ; monopoly of 
alcohol and tobacco ; progressive income tax ; taxes on legacies 
and gifts between the living (excepting gifts to works of public 
utility) ; suppression of intestate succession, except in the direct 
) line and within limits to be determined by the law. 

Progressive Extension of Public Property. — The state to 
J take over the National Bank ; social organization of loans, at 
interest to cover costs only, to individuals and to associations 
of workers ; abolition on grounds of public utility, of private 
ownership in mines, quarries, the subsoil generally, and of 
the great means of production and transport ; nationalization 
of forests ; reconstitution or development of common lands ; 
progressive taking over of the land by the state or the 
communes. 

Autonomy of Public Services. — Administration of the public 
services by special autonomous commissions, under the control 
of the state ; creation of committees elected by the em- 
ployees of the public services to discuss with the central ad- 
ministration the conditions of the remuneration and organization 
of labor. 

Particular Measures for Industrial Workers : — 

Abolition of all laws restricting the right of combination. 






THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 175 

Regulation of Industrial Labor. — Prohibition of employ- 
ment of children under fourteen; half-time system between 
the ages of fourteen and eighteen; prohibition of employment 
of women in all industries where it is incompatible with 
morals or health ; reduction of working- day to a maximum 
of eight hours for adults of both sexes, minimum wage ; pro- 
hibition of night-work for all categories of workers and in all 
industries, where this mode of working is not absolutely 
necessary ; one day's rest per week, so far as possible on Sun- 
day; responsibility of employers in case of accidents, and 
appointment of doctors to attend persons injured ; workmen's 
memorandum books and certificates to be abolished, and their 
use prohibited. 

Inspection of Work. — Employment of paid medical authori- 
ties, in the interests of labor hygiene ; appointment of inspect- 
ors by the councils of industry and labor. 

Reorganization of the Industrial Tribunals and the Councils 
of Industry and Labor. — Working women to have votes and 
be eligible ; submission to the courts to be compulsory. 

Regulation of work in prisons and convents. 

Particular Measures for Agricultural Workers : — 

Reorganization of the Agricultural Courts. — Nomination of 
delegates in equal numbers by the landowners, farmers, and 
laborers ; intervention of the chambers in individual or collec- 
tive disputes between landowners, farmers, and agricultural 
laborers ; fixing of a minimum wage by the public authorities 
on the proposition of the agricultural courts. 

Regulation of Contracts to pay Farm Rents. — Fixing of the 
rate of farm rents by committees of arbitration or by the 
reformed agricultural courts ; compensation to the outgoing 
farmer for enhanced value of property ; participation of land- 
owners to a wider extent than that fixed by the Civil Code, in 
losses incurred by farmers; suppression of the landowners' 
privilege. 

Insurance by the provinces, and reinsurance by the state, 



176 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

against epizootic diseases, diseases of plants, hail, floods, and 
other agricultural risks. 

Organization by the Public Authorities of Free Agricultural 
Education. — Creation or development of experimental fields, 
model farms, agricultural laboratories. 

Purchase by the commune of agricultural implements to be 
at the disposal of their inhabitants ; assignment of common 
lands to groups of laborers engaging not to employ wage-labor. 

Organization of a free medical service in the country. 

Reform of the Game Laws. — Suppression of gun licenses ; 
suppression of game preserves ; right of cultivators to destroy 
all the year round animals which injure crops. 

Intervention of Public Authorities in the Creation of Agricul- 
tural Cooperative Societies. — For buying seed and manure ; 
for making butter ; for the purchase and use in common of 
agricultural machines ; for the sale of produce ; for the work- 
ing of land by groups. 

Organization of agricultural credit. 

Communal Program 

Educational Reforms. — Free scientific instruction for chil- 
dren up to fourteen ; special courses for older children and 
adults ; organization of education in trades and industries, in 
cooperation with workmen's organizations ; maintenance of 
children, except where the state intervenes to do so ; institu- 
tion of school refreshment rooms ; periodic distribution of 
boots and clothing; orphanages; establishments for children 
abandoned or cruelly ill-treated. 

Judicial Reforms. — Office for consultations free of charge 
in cases coming before the law-courts, the industrial courts, 
etc. 

Regulation of Work. — Minimum wage and maximum work- 
ing day to be made a clause in contracts for communal works ; 
intervention of trade associations in the fixing of rates of wages, 



THE PROGRAM OF SOCIALISM 1 77 

and general regulation of industry ; the echevin of public works 
to supervise the execution of these clauses in contracts ; ap- 
pointment by the workmen's associations of inspectors to 
supervise the clauses in contracts ; rigorous application of the 
principle of tenders open to all, for all services which, during a 
transition period, are not managed directly ; permission to 
trade unions to tender, and abolition of security-deposit ; 
creation of Bourses du Travail, or at least offices for the de- 
mand and supply of employment, whose administration shall 
be entrusted to trade unions or labor associations ; fixing of a 
minimum wage for the workmen and employees of a commune. 

Public Charity. — Admission of workmen to the administra- 
tion of the councils of hospitals and of public charity \ trans- 
formation of public charity and the hospitals into a system of 
insurance against old age; organization of a medical service 
and drug supply ; establishment of public free baths and wash- 
houses ; establishment of refuges for the aged and disabled ; 
night-shelter and food-distribution for workmen wandering in 
search of work. 

Complete neutrality of all communal services from the philo- 
sophical point of view. 

Finance. — Saving to be effected on present cost of admin- 
istration ; maximum allowance of 6000 francs for mayors and 
other officials ; costs of entertainment for mayors who must 
incur certain private expenses ; income-tax ; special tax on 
sites not built over and houses not let. 

Public Services. — The commune or a federation of com- 
munes composing one agglomeration, to work the means of 
transport, tramways, omnibuses, cabs, district railways, etc. ; 
and to work directly the services of general interest at present 
conceded to companies, lighting, water-supply, markets, high- 
ways, heating, security, health ; compulsory insurance of the 
inhabitants against fire, except where the state intervenes to do 
so ; construction of cheap dwellings by the commune, the 
hospices, and the charity offices. 



CHAPTER VII 

SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 

It is difficult nowadays for socialists to keep the de- 
tails of their immediate program in advance of legisla- 
tion. For more than a half century socialist and labor 
programs advocated the abolition of child labor without 
finding any considerable sympathetic response on the 
part of the general public. Only a few years ago a 
child-labor law was considered an unwarrantable inter- 
ference with the free conduct of capitalist enterprise. 
To-day the legislation in some countries is in advance of 
the specific demand made by one or two of the socialist 
parties. There was a time when the socialists alone 
advocated national and municipal ownership of public 
utilities ; to-day it is advocated by all the more advanced 
parties. A few years ago land municipalization would 
have been hailed as a revolution of the first order. To- 
day there are few municipalities in Europe that do not 
see the necessity for radical reform in the ownership of 
land if slums are to be abolished. There are various 
causes for this extraordinary change in public policy, 
but few will deny that the credit for it belongs mainly 
to the growing socialist movement. 

The old parties quite naturally combat the intrusion 
of the new ideas. When the socialists in the legislative 
bodies endeavor to carry out their program, their meas- 
ures are bitterly assailed by the opposition; but the 

178 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 179 

socialists use such opportunities to review the evils of 
existing conditions and the necessity for reform, with 
the result that the community becomes aroused. The 
opposition, who first attack a socialist measure as crimi- 
nal and vicious, then as well-intentioned but impracti- 
cal, finally, after as much delay as possible, reintro- 
duce the measure in as weak a form as they dare 
submit it, and pass it as a great and virtuous public 
act. It is not, I think, an exaggeration to state that on 
the continent of Europe, this is the legislative history 
of most of the important measures in the interest of 
labor passed during the last twenty years. The social- 
ists are rarely permitted to pass legislation, but in the 
way described they are really the directing force in 
nearly all the continental legislative bodies. In other 
words, the old parties are gradually being forced to fol- 
low the line of the immediate demands of the socialist 
program. 

But quite aside from this influence over the course of 
legislation the socialists are doing a notable work in 
gradually breaking down that ancient and honorable 
form of political corruption which is inherent in class 
government. The patriotic citizens of foreign countries 
will tell you that corruption does not exist, and one 
must admit that there is a difference in the corruption 
abroad and that which obtains with us. Legislators are 
rarely bought. But then it is unnecessary, as in most 
cases the " traction magnates," the "gas thieves," etc., 
— as we are disposed to call them, — where there are 
any left, are themselves members of legislative bodies. 
It is obviously unnecessary to buy themselves. The 
difference between corruption there and here is that 
we elect Tim Sullivan, Hinky Dink, and Johnny Powers 



l8o SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to our municipal councils. No power on earth could 
induce us to elect Thomas F. Ryan, August Bel- 
mont, or Yerkes. But unfortunately Ryan and his 
friends have as their personal representatives Sullivan 
and his friends, and the latter turn us — the people 
and "our" government — over to their corporate 
masters. Nothing like that is to be found in Eng- 
land or on the continent. It would be impossible 
to induce the people of those countries to vote for their 
Sullivans ; they elect their Ryans. A prominent social- 
ist in the Berlin municipal council told me recently that 
the greatest difficulty they meet with in their efforts to 
deal with the traction monopoly arises from the fact that 
several directors of the company are on the council. 
Nothing, therefore, can be done without the traction 
monopoly knowing instantly the facts. Something of 
that sort exists nearly everywhere in Europe ; the vested 
interests represent themselves. 

It is corruption, but it is a higher type of corruption, 
unaccompanied by all the inelegant features associated 
with American politics. One must admit it is also a 
preferable form, as it exists in the open. It is not 
always easy for the public to know that Sullivan, Hinky 
Dink, and Johnny Powers, or the thousands like them 
without their notoriety, represent purely private inter- 
ests and not the interests of their constituents. Abroad 
it becomes clearer, day by day, that the nominees of 
the vested interests represent those interests. 

As a result, the workers in Europe are beginning to 
send to the municipal councils and to parliament their 
own representatives, and we find the conflict between 
the workers and the capitalists sharply defined. I saw 
it once strikingly illustrated during a parliamentary de- 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM l8l 

bate upon a bill for compensating workmen injured in 
the mining industry. A socialist miner, pleading for 
more liberal compensation, had delivered a terrible 
arraignment of the conduct of the industry. When he 
sat down, another member arose. He said he was a mine- 
owner, and would like to give notice that he would 
answer "the honorable gentleman" on the following 
day. In this instance, the miner, representing the 
working people, and the mine-owner, representing the 
capital employed, stood face to face before the country 
in a debate upon the conditions prevailing in that 
industry. 

This was a dramatic instance of what is occurring 
throughout all Europe, as a result of the participation 
in politics of independent working men's parties. Class 
government, which seemed at first only strengthened 
by the extension of the suffrage, is breaking down. 
The workers are learning that it avails nothing to vote 
the conservatives out and the radicals in, or vice versa. 
In either case the upper class remains in complete 
control. Only a few years ago the situation in Europe 
was almost as bad as it is with us, and we seem unable 
to uproot our corruption, to prevent our insurance 
scandals, and to eliminate corporation control of our 
political parties. In Europe exposures of a similar 
character would now destroy any political party in- 
volved. The socialists of Italy, for instance, did not 
face conditions quite as black as ours, and yet they so 
effectually followed up exposures of corruption that 
many prominent persons were driven from public life. 
The power to accomplish this remarkable work resides 
in this independent political movement, this party of the 
workers now forcing its way into power. In the face 



1 82 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

of its criticism the old order dare not press the kind of 
class legislation which was so common a few decades 
ago. It dreads the criticism of the new party, which 
appears as the expression of the exploited and disinher- 
ited, produced largely by the iniquitous legislation of 
the past. It realizes that any serious blunders on its 
part, any corruption, any favors to private interests, 
means the strengthening of this active and subversive 
group of socialists. 

The influence of the socialist party is even more 
clearly shown by the manner in which it obtains the 
enforcement of law. It is an old political game to pass 
laws not intended to be enforced. Having control of 
the executive as well as the legislative departments of 
government, the parties in power sometimes find this 
the easiest way to defeat popular clamor. But even 
this undignified course is impossible where the socialist 
party is active. The socialists realize that if present 
laws were only enforced, they would considerably im- 
prove existing conditions. In the German municipali- 
ties and elsewhere they taunt the parties in power with 
the squalor, the vile tenements, the high death-rates, 
the adulterated food, and the other evils resulting in 
part from a lax administration. The effectiveness of 
these stings cannot be overestimated, and one of the 
most striking changes of the last few years is the in- 
crease in efficiency of the municipal administration in 
the continental cities. In three ways, therefore, the 
socialist movement exercises an important influence 
upon European political policy : first, upon legislation 
itself ; second, in making almost impossible the older 
form of political corruption residing in class rule ; and 
third, in compelling the enforcement of existing laws. 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 183 

Socialism does not set out to occupy itself merely 
with political reforms. It is based upon economic 
principles, which emphasize the necessity for industrial 
reconstruction. But one insurmountable political obsta- 
cle stands in the way of its advancement as a party. In 
many countries the suffrage is so restricted that it gives 
the propertied classes a position of advantage. A fun- 
damental political demand, therefore, upon which all 
socialists agree, is universal and equal suffrage without 
distinction of sex. In Belgium during the last twenty 
years enormous pressure has been exercised upon the 
government to force it to grant this political right. 
Deprived of other means of expressing their will, the 
people have had to resort to general strikes and even 
to riots. Several times the electoral law has been 
altered, but the governing classes in Belgium fear to 
grant universal and equal suffrage, as the growing popu- 
larity of the socialists would then make probable their 
early advent to power. Other European governments 
face a similar situation, and it becomes increasingly 
difficult to obtain universal suffrage. The danger to 
the present order is illustrated by two recent events. 
In Austria, after a series of general strikes, and a period 
of threatening agitation, universal manhood suffrage 
was granted, and the socialists instantly increased their 
parliamentary representation from 11 to 87 members. 
In Finland the social democratic agitation was even 
more successful, and women were admitted along with 
men to the right of suffrage. At the first election 
under the new law 80 socialists were sent to parliament, 
of whom nine were women. Coincident with this desper- 
ate struggle to win universal suffrage an effort is being 
made to obtain the referendum and initiative, and in 



1 84 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

many countries the old parties have been forced in self- 
protection to establish proportional representation. That 
it should be left to the socialists alone to fight these 
battles of political democracy shows to what extent the 
old liberal parties, whose glory it once was to widen the 
suffrage, have degenerated since they came into power. 
In the field of public finance a graduated income tax, 
and the abolition of all indirect taxes, customs, and 
other politico-economic measures, which sacrifice the 
interests of the whole community to the interests of a 
favored minority, are demanded in all socialist pro- 
grams. The Germans ask for an obligatory graduated 
tax upon inheritance, and the Belgian party seeks the 
suppression of intestate succession except in the direct 
line. The English Independent Labor Party stands for 
the gradual transference of all political burdens to un- 
earned incomes, and the Italian party advocates the 
taxation of unearned increment from land. England 
and Germany already have an income-tax, and France 
is at present in the midst of drafting important legis- 
lation in the same field. The present legislation, how- 
ever, does not satisfy the socialists, as it is their avowed 
purpose to shift the entire burden of taxation on to 
unearned incomes. The enormous budgets of the 
European countries, made necessary in part by stu- 
pendous annual expenditures for naval and military 
purposes, have forced the governments to place a part 
of this heavy burden upon the wealthier classes ; but 
the burden upon the workers is nevertheless crushing. 
Consequently the socialists are exercising their utmost 
power in every country to relieve the workers by shift- 
ing these taxes upon those classes for whose benefit 
naval and military expenses are incurred. 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 185 

The German cities have taken an important advance 
step in the taxation of unearned increment arising from 
the sale and transfer of land. The object is to absorb 
the profits of the speculator. On every change in 
ownership an increasing tax is placed in a shifting 
scale in relation to the selling price. The introduction 
of the new rating forced the Breslau speculators in 
land to pay in 1900 an increased taxation of $76,250. 
Frankfurt was the first town to undertake legislation 
in this direction, and the socialists in all parts of 
Germany are pressing measures of a similar character. 
In Berlin they recently introduced an extreme measure, 
and while it met with defeat, it will doubtless in a year 
or so be presented in modified form and passed by 
one of the conservative parties. Many of the German 
Town Councils also rate unimproved land on the 
amount for which it could be sold. Crefeld, Breslau, 
Aachen, Diisseldorf, Elberfeld, Charlottenberg, Kiel, 
Wiesbaden, and other towns have already adopted the 
new method and all German towns are urged by the 
Prime Minister to follow their example. These new 
forms of land taxation have not yet been sufficiently 
developed in Germany to show very important results ; 
but under socialist pressure they are certain to be 
gradually extended until the cities will absorb the 
entire unearned increment arising from land. So 
much for the attitude of the socialists in the field of 
public finance. 

A most important change has taken place of recent 
years in European political thought concerning factory 
legislation. The old ideas of laissez faire, which are 
still potent in America, are rapidly being abandoned 
on the other side of the Atlantic. During the last 



1 86 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

twenty years there has been a steady growth of state 
intervention, until now there are laws regulating almost 
every phase of the competitive system. The relation 
between labor and capital, the conduct of factories, 
mines, and other industrial enterprises, and the sanitary 
condition of tenements and workshops are more and 
more regulated by law. The old political principles 
allowed complete freedom of contract, neglecting to 
make any provision for the necessary basis of equality 
in condition. State intervention is a tardy and indeed 
vain effort to equalize conditions and to put labor 
upon an equal footing with capital. 

The socialists in forcing labor legislation work as the 
direct representatives in parliament of the trade-union 
movement. They are constantly agitating for laws 
giving greater freedom of action to the unions. Even 
before the organization of their political parties, the 
working-class had gained in most countries the right 
to unite and the right to strike. In some countries the 
right of peaceful picketing is now guaranteed to the 
workers. Usually this is a result of an administrative 
measure, but the English parliament, during its last 
session, specifically granted the right in the Trades 
Disputes Bill. Injunctions are rarely used in Europe 
against labor organizations ; but in case any court 
should be unwise enough to grant one, it would seldom 
be sustained. In some countries the use of the army 
and police against strikers is still common, and of course 
in all demonstrable instances of violence the interven- 
tion of the authorities is certain. Nothing, however, in 
Europe compares with the use commonly made of the 
army in America, and it is doubtful if anywhere else 
employers would be permitted to hire " Pinkertons " 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 187 

to shoot down or to intimidate starving workmen. As 
a matter of fact, things have changed greatly in most 
European countries during recent years. The socialist 
municipalities of Italy and France sometimes supply 
strikers with food and shelter, and in all cases they 
see that the children are cared for. In these instances 
the old order is completely reversed, and instead of 
the employer being given governmental aid to break 
strikes and to crush the workmen, the men are rendered 
assistance to the extent sometimes of direct contribu- 
tions to their funds. The French chamber itself has 
many times, after the conclusion of a strike, voted 
financial aid to the families of the working men. 

It is impossible to give an adequate review of the 
progress of factory legislation. As I have said be- 
fore, there was practically no such legislation in Bel- 
gium previous to the formation of the Labor Party. 
The reader will have observed in its program, that 
among other things it demands the prohibition of the 
employment of children under 14; a half-time system, 
that is to say, half a day at work and half in school, 
for workers between the ages of 14 and 18 ; the pro- 
hibition of the employment of women in all industries 
where it is incompatible with morals or health ; the 
reduction of the working day to a maximum of eight 
hours for adults of both sexes ; a minimum wage ; the 
prohibition of night-work for all categories of workers 
in all industries where this mode of working is not 
absolutely necessary; one day's rest per week, so far 
as possible on Sunday; responsibility of employers in 
case of accidents ; and the appointment of doctors to 
attend persons injured ; the employment of medical 
authorities to work in the interests of factory hygiene. 



1 88 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

and the appointment of all inspectors by joint com- 
mittees of employers and employed. Some of the 
other national programs advocate more stringent meas- 
ures, and the Fabians demand for women workers 
that for equal work they should receive equal pay 
with men. Nearly all the programs demand a gen- 
eral compulsory insurance of citizens against unemploy- 
ment, disablement, and death. The Fabian program 
also advocates the eight-hour day, the prohibition of 
the employment of children under 16, the undertaking 
of useful public works in special cases, and a general 
extension of governmental ownership of industrial 
operations : all for the purpose of doing away with 
unemployment. As a result of constant pressure exer- 
cised by the socialists every country in Europe has 
sensibly increased, and in some cases initiated, legis- 
lation protecting workmen against insanitary condi- 
tions, dangerous trades, and other evils incident to 
industry which undermine the health and vitality of 
the working-class. France is one of the first countries 
to establish le repos hebdomadaire — one day's rest in 
seven. 

Perhaps the most important legislation that has been 
passed in the interest of labor is the compulsory insur- 
ance of working men, now spreading all over Europe. 
It is mainly an effort to render tolerable the present 
economic system, and to give to the working-class 
some security in life. The German empire w r as the 
first country to realize the widespread discontent of 
the workers which resulted from their uncertainty of 
livelihood. England and America still persist in 
throwing upon the poor law, and degrading to the 
position of paupers, the aged, the sick, and the unem- 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 189 

ployed, as well as the families of those who have sac- 
rificed their lives to industry. In Germany, where the 
insurance system is best developed, every employee 
receiving less than $500 a year in wages must be in- 
sured against accident, sickness, invalidism, and old age. 
Practically every workman in the German empire is, 
therefore, assured of an economic existence, when he 
is unable to continue at work. One no longer finds 
broken-down workmen, suffering from tuberculosis, 
chronic rheumatism, or other forms of invalidism, or 
maimed and injured so as to be incapable of further 
labor, or weary and exhausted veterans, still forced to 
maintain a tragic and futile struggle to earn the nec- 
essaries of life. To all these unfortunates, pensions 
are granted at a cost of over $100,000,000 a year. In 
Austria, insurance against accidents, sickness, and old 
age is obligatory for practically the entire laboring 
population. Compulsory insurance has also gained a 
foothold in France and Roumania, while for fifty years 
there has been a system in Belgium of miners' insur- 
ance which is practically compulsory upon mine-own- 
ers. The best examples of state voluntary insurance 
are found in France, Belgium, and Italy. The first 
country has had in existence for many years three in- 
dependent departments for accidents, old age and 
invalidism, and death. Belgium has a similar institu- 
tion for old-age insurance, while Italy has established 
a national bank for insurance against accidents. The 
English employer is now forced by the Workmen's 
Compensation Act to indemnify injured workmen, a 
more complete form of the law having been recently 
passed under pressure from the Labor Party. 

The system of governmental insurance, however, 



igo socialists at work 

does not include insurance against unemployment. 
There is a s:he:v.e ::: pensiinir.r :he une:::::l:ve£, 
which was started a few years ago in Ghent, and is 
gradually being adopted by other cities throughout 
Europe. The working method is for the unions to 
establish an insurance fund against unemployment, to 
which every member subscribes a certain sum weekly 
or monthly; and for every dollar contributed by the 
workmen an equal sum is usually contributed by the 
municipality. The unions, being financially responsible 
to the same extent as the municipalities, undertake to 
see that no idlers shall be supported from the funds. 
In this way society is beginning to assume a part of 
its responsibility for unemployment, instead of throw- 
ing the burden entirely upon the workmen. In nearly 
all the socialist municipalities of France a similar 
r:n has been developed, and the French chamber 
recently acknowledged the principle of society's re- 
sponsibility for unemployment, by making a subvention 
to these funds. 

A step in advance of governmental regulation and 
even of governmental insurance is national and mu- 
nicipal ownership. It is unfortunate that no general 
figures exist giving the extent of public property, but 
in every country in Europe during the last twenty 

:: s:i:e 

he 72.:.- 

:: r.i- 



years there has been an astonishing j 
socialism. Many countries have natioi 
ways, and there is a growing tendei 
tionally all the great natural resources, such as coal 
and iron mines, eta Switzerland is considering a 
proposition to keep under national control the im- 
mense power which lies in her mountain streams. 
There is a possibility that Great Britain will national- 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 191 

ize the railroads in Ireland, and there is considerable 
agitation for the nationalization of all British rail- 
ways. Public enterprise is, of course, most extensive in 
the cities. Hardly a franchise expires in any Euro- 
pean city that is not immediately taken up by^ the 
municipality. In many places no new franchises are 
granted to private companies, and little by little all 
public services are coming into the hands of the gov- 
ernment. 

In Great Britain this movement has taken on an 
enormous development, so that now most of the munici- 
palities own the water, gas, and electrical supplies, 
trams, baths, wash-houses, libraries, and of course the 
public schools, parks, playgrounds, etc. Many of the 
cities have entered the field of municipal housing, and 
some have undertaken to demolish large areas of slums, 
replacing them by municipally owned tenements. For 
many years past a number of cities have had a municipal 
telephone service, and the national post-office has re- 
cently made arrangements looking to the nationalization 
of all telephones as soon as the existing licenses expire, 
expecting a complete national ownership by 191 1. Some 
of the cities have also instituted municipal slaughter- 
houses and sterilized milk-supplies. Nearly everywhere 
there has also been a great extension of municipal 
institutions for the intellectual development of the com- 
munity, such as museums, art galleries, and libraries; 
and for the physical development, such as parks, play- 
grounds, and recreation fields. 

One of the strongest influences in the recent growth 
of this enlightened public policy throughout England 
is the w r ork of the Fabian Society and similar bodies, 
whose members have carried on an extraordinary 



192 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

propaganda and have constantly urged their practical 
municipal program. The Independent Labor Party 
in the provinces has exerted a powerful influence in 
the same direction, and upon nearly all the councils in 
the industrial districts the fighting has been led by its 
representatives. It cannot, however, be said that 
British municipal socialism is the result of an organized 
and threatening movement of the workers. For this 
reason many of the reforms have been more for the 
benefit of the entire community than for the working- 
class in particular. Certain collectivist ideas appeal 
to all, as for instance the municipalization of such 
public services as are essential to the comfort of all. 
It is possible for a city to own practically all of these 
public services without greatly improving the life of 
the masses. The pressure for reform has come 
mainly from the middle class instead of from a politi- 
cally organized working-class, and the difference be- 
tween the results obtained in England and those 
obtained on the continent by the socialist parties is 
the English slums, the most abominable of Europe. 

In the continental countries the trend toward munici- 
pal socialism is, on the other hand, mainly the result of 
an organized working-class movement. Certainly the 
infiltration of socialist ideas throughout all classes of the 
community, and the labors of that considerable class who 
now call themselves state socialists, have not been with- 
out effect ; but the influence of the latter is often limited 
to forms of collectivism which do not always directly 
benefit the poor, while the socialist party itself has 
forced a whole series of measures materially ameliorat- 
ing the condition of the workers. It is actually in con- 
trol of a large number of cities, and there is hardly a 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 1 93 

municipal council without its representatives. In France 
the party elects the mayors of over a hundred cities, and 
in Belgium and Italy it controls some of the most impor- 
tant of the secondary municipalities. But unfortunately 
in these countries there is a highly centralized govern- 
ment which prevents the socialists from carrying out 
their ideas, and often forces them to grant to private 
interests the conduct of public utilities. Although they 
have fought valiantly for increased power, it has thus far 
availed little. Here and there they have established 
municipal pharmacies, new and improved hospitals, and 
nearly everywhere they have a sufficiently free hand 
to establish school restaurants for the feeding of the 
children. 

Curiously enough, the most important results of the 
socialist movement are to be found in Germany. In 
France, Belgium, and Italy their electoral strength places 
them in possession of the municipal government, but the 
centralized powers prevent them from carrying out their 
policies. In Prussia the law does not permit them to 
control a municipality, but they can and do direct its 
policies. The electoral law provides that the non-prop- 
ertied classes shall only elect one-third of the munici- 
pal council. In nearly every city the socialists elect 
the full third, and in many industrial cities their vote is 
larger than that of all other parties. The moral power 
which this electoral strength gives to the socialist minor- 
ity enables it to exercise enormous pressure upon Ger- 
man municipal policy. The position of the socialists 
may be merely that of critics, but their activity in plac- 
ing before the councils measures for the improvement 
of the conditions of the workers, the sanitary renovation 
of the poorer quarters, the building of model tenements, 



194 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the municipalizing of public utilities, and countless other 
measures for municipal improvement, make them a 
source of perpetual irritation to the old parties. They 
drive the conservative majorities to more and more ex- 
treme measures, until Germany has now the most enlight- 
ened municipal policy in Europe. Twenty years ago 
her slums were notorious. There was hardly a great 
city which did not have conditions rivalling those still 
prevalent throughout Great Britain. To-day there is 
hardly a poor district in Germany that can justly be 
called a slum. 

The German cities have developed municipal owner- 
ship to a greater extent than perhaps any other cities 
of Europe, and in addition they have for years pursued 
a policy of extensive land ownership. Since 1890 
Cologne has increased its public land by over 1000 per 
cent, Chemnitz by over 600 per cent, Munich by over 
300 per cent, and so forth. Strasbourg has over 350 
square yards of land for each inhabitant. The town 
of Ulm owns over 80 per cent of the land within its 
boundaries. It buys and leases land daily, and by its 
power as landowner it prevents all land speculation. 
It is now the general policy of all German towns not to 
sell any land. 

To review the extent of municipal enterprise at pres- 
ent would exhaust the pages of a very large book, and 
it is only possible to mention its increasing development 
in the above general way. It is unnecessary to say 
that national and municipal ownership is advocated in 
nearly all socialist programs, but even where it is not a 
formulated demand, the socialist parties have usually sup- 
ported any effort in this direction. They, however, 
place greater emphasis upon those forms of municipal 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 195 

or national ownership which tend definitely to relieve or 
abolish the exploitation of the workers. Among the 
first measures they press are those for municipal hous- 
ing, and the control of the food, clothing, and fuel sup- 
plies. It is their primary effort to take the necessaries 
of life out of the field of capitalist exploitation. But 
even where municipal or national ownership is gained, 
they do not consider their end attained. Nearly all 
socialists would agree with Wilhelm Liebknecht, - who 
said, " The state when it assumes control in place of the 
private entrepreneur carries on the capitalist exploitation 
exactly as the private entrepreneur. It can in fact ex- 
ercise yet greater oppression/' This leads the socialists 
to make strenuous efforts to obtain better hours, wages, 
and conditions for government employees. The London 
County Council have endeavored to follow out this social- 
ist policy, and in all public work they have established 
among other things the eight-hour day, trade union w r ages, 
one day's rest in seven, and the employment by the 
municipality direct of all classes of workmen engaged 
upon public works. In many German cities like condi- 
tions have been established, and wherever the socialists 
have been in control, in France, Italy, or Belgium, a 
similar program has been put into operation. 

It was pointed out a moment ago that the centralized 
government of France prevents the socialists from car- 
rying out a general policy of municipalization. It may 
be interesting, therefore, to mention some of the work 
they have been able to accomplish. It is sometimes 
said that socialism will destroy the home, and some of 
its opponents have been unscrupulous enough to attack 
socialists as advocates of free love. In answer to such 
accusations perhaps nothing could be more conclusive 



196 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

than what the socialists actually do when they come 
into power. It is known that illegitimacy is common in 
France, especially among the poorest people. To what 
extent it is due to poverty, and the inability of the 
poorest workmen to pay fees for the marriage service, 
is not known ; but when the socialists came into control 
of the city of Lille, they established a free marriage 
service, the fees to the pastor being paid directly by 
the municipality. Thousands of marriages have been 
sanctioned under this new act, and a great number of 
children who would otherwise have been classed as ille- 
gitimate are now legalized. The work of the socialists in 
the same city is sufficient to answer the other accusation. 
It is a theory that socialism will destroy the home ; 
it is a fact that for millions of the poor capitalism has 
destroyed the home. Go through any great centre of 
industry, and see the mothers who are forced to give 
their children to the street and themselves to the fac- 
tory. Literally speaking, millions of women, how many 
with children one cannot say, leave their homes at dawn, 
and return to them only at nightfall. Some of them 
hardly have time to give birth to their babies before 
they are called back to the mills. These facts make 
little impression upon those who are not working peo- 
ple ; but can any one really think for a moment that the 
poor suffer without complaint this destruction of home 
life ? Can any one believe that when the mothers and 
fathers rise in the morning before dawn, and leave their 
children to the care of an older child or upon the streets, 
and go themselves to toil for ten, twelve, or fourteen 
hours in the factory, they are without feeling in the 
matter ? If that is the impression, the pathetic efforts 
of these French working men when they come into 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 197 

power are a sufficient answer. Amidst the greatest 
imaginable difficulties they strive to retrieve something 
of the social advantages lost to them through the indus- 
trial revolution. They establish public kitchens so that 
soups, meats, and vegetables can be obtained warm when 
the people return from their work. They establish 
creches for the babies of working mothers. The cantine 
scolaire, or school restaurant, is but another effort to 
reestablish in some manner the social institutions lost 
by the destruction of the home. So long as the present 
system lasts, or at least so long as socialists remain in a 
minority, it is impossible for them to free from toil the 
mothers of their children. But they can save the babies 
from neglect, the children from the streets, and all from 
actual hunger. There are few workmen who would not, 
if they could, destroy all the creclies and cantines scolaires 
and ecoles matemelles, if at the same time they could 
reestablish the home and give back to the babies their 
mothers. This, however, being impossible, it will be a 
curious and perhaps interesting fact to the prosperous 
classes that, among the first things to which the social- 
ists turn their attention when they become charged with 
the responsibility of municipal government are these 
very problems of the family and the home. 

This is typical of the activity of the socialists in France, 
Italy, Germany, and Belgium, whenever they obtain con- 
trol of a municipality. The feeding of the children in 
school restaurants is rapidly spreading throughout all 
Europe. Where the Italians have gained control, they 
have immediately established the system and in some 
cases in order that there shall be no distinction between 
poor and well-to-do children, attendance at school meals 
is made compulsory for all children. In Norway the 



198 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

municipalities provide a nutritious midday meal regard- 
less of whether the children can pay or not, and this is 
also true of a number of Belgian cities. In France the 
children usually pay where possible, but no one knows 
which of the children pay and which do not. 

Probably the most interesting development in the 
care of the children is that of the forest school near 
Berlin. The German cities, having generally provided 
school physicians, found a large percentage of the chil- 
dren of such delicate health that there was no likelihood 
of their growing into strong men and women. Bad 
food and insanitary homes, added to general tendencies, 
were producing a class of children who must in time 
become a burden upon the community. Merely as an 
experiment a forest school was established, to which 
several hundred children were sent. They are fed ; 
nurses and doctors attend them ; their lessons are given, 
as far as possible, in the open air; and every effort is 
made to build up a strong physical constitution. It 
has proved an amazingly successful experiment, and 
after a year or two of attendance practically all of the 
delicate children return to the ordinary schools in ro- 
bust health. The food, the doctors, the nurses, and the 
medicine, as well as the teaching, are supplied at the 
expense of the community. Other similar schools are 
now being established, and it is reasonable to hope that 
within a few years they will have spread all over Ger- 
manv, with the result that there will be few weak and 
delicate children at the end of the school period. The 
socialists of Lille have undertaken a somewhat similar 
experiment, and the municipal control of the milk-supply, 
which is now becoming general, is having an excellent 
effect upon the babies. 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 1 99 

In line with these efforts to solve some of the prob- 
lems of morals and health is the war upon alcoholism. 
It is one of the most important problems that now 
confront the socialist party. Aside from the purely 
humanitarian motives which influence the socialists to 
attack alcoholism, there is also a party motive. They 
fully realize that one of the greatest enemies to the 
propaganda of their ideas is drunkenness. In many of 
the European countries almost the only strength remain- 
ing to the old political parties among the working-class 
is the support of the shiftless and drunken elements 
in the large towns and industrial centres. In Belgium 
the socialists own a large number of club-houses or 
Houses of the People, all of which are based upon ex- 
tensive cafes patronized solely by the working-class. 
Regardless of the financial loss entailed, alcoholic drinks 
are no longer sold in many of these cooperatives, 
and the Belgian party is gradually developing a definite 
political policy against the entire drink traffic. One of 
the most significant things that has recently happened 
in Europe is the resolution against alcoholism passed at 
the last German national congress. In Sweden and the 
northern countries the socialists have used their influ- 
ence to promote the Gothenburg system of controlling 
the drink traffic. A law prohibiting all traffic in drink 
was recently passed in Finland, although there is a 
doubt whether the existence of certain international 
fiscal treaties will not render it to a great extent inopera- 
tive. The Fabians in London advocate the municipali- 
zation of the industry in order to abolish the private 
interest in the making of drunkards. In Switzerland 
the drink traffic has been nationalized. In Russia the 
state monopoly of spirit retailing was established solely 



200 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

for fiscal purposes and not to decrease drunkenness. 
The problem is a new one for the socialist movement, 
but nearly everywhere in Europe it is beginning with 
characteristic energy an active campaign against the 
liquor traffic, and using its tremendous moral power 
among the masses to combat alcoholism. 

I shall not attempt here to give the attitude of the 
party upon militarism, the colonial question, and agri- 
culture, — all questions of fundamental importance to the 
European movement. They are extremely complicated, 
and the party has not yet adopted a policy that maybe 
considered final. Not only have the national congresses 
given serious consideration to these problems, but the 
several international gatherings have passed resolutions, 
trying to define the position of the movement. Thus 
far there has not been an agreement reached which 
meets the approval of all the national parties. But in 
passing over these difficult questions, there still remains 
one matter of too great importance to go without con- 
sideration, and that is the tactical attitude of the party 
toward social reform. Socialism is a movement for 
radical and revolutionary change in the constitution of 
society, and its policy in regard to reforms and amelio- 
rations in the present order cannot be ignored. 

There are two groups in the socialist movement which 
advocate different political tactics in regard to social 
reform. A few years ago there was no end of discus- 
sion within the organization, and the debates between 
the two groups became bitter, until finally the strife was 
brought to the attention of the outside world by a pub- 
lic controversy between Kautsky, "the Marxist/' and 
Bernstein, "the Revisionist.' ' The press heralded the 
discussion with sinister delight, and Bernstein became 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 201 

for a time an international figure. It was thought at 
first that the difference between the two tendencies was 
limited to Germany, but as the discussion progressed 
it was found that the party was divided in nearly every 
country into two camps — on the one hand, reformists, 
revisionists, moderates, possibilists, and ministerialists, 
as the opportunists are called ; on the other, impos- 
sibilists, Marxists, and revolutionists. These various 
designations were often used in contempt, and in all 
the more important countries of Europe the two factions 
were struggling to impress upon the party a political 
tactic in accord with their own particular view. 

I have already given the unhappy history of the 
schisms in the French party. In the very beginning 
there was a division between the possibilists and the 
impossibilists, and only a few years ago there occurred 
the critical and passionate struggle between Guesde and 
Jaures. The English movement is divided on some- 
what the same lines, the Fabians going to the most ex- 
treme limit of the reformist tactic, and the Social 
Democratic Federation going to the other extreme. In 
Germany the struggle between the two factions has been 
almost continuous since 1891. Vollmar, the leader of 
the Bavarian section of the movement, was one of the 
first in the German party to take issue with the Marxian 
tactics of Bebel, Liebknecht, and the North Germans. 
Bernstein followed with his polemics upon the subject, 
and at nearly every congress for ten years the matter 
was brought up in some form. In Italy the quarrels 
have been more serious even than in France. The re- 
formists definitely allied themselves with the two minis- 
tries of Zanardelli and Giolitti. Throughout the north 
they have pursued everywhere a policy of compromise. 



202 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Again and again in the Italian congresses this question 
threatens the very existence of the movement Austria 
has not been without a similar struggle, and in Belgium 
the reformist policy prevails. 

The reformists believe that the movement should use 
all its effort to accomplish certain definite reforms, and 
in this manner gradually alter the whole constitution of 
societv. They are not agreed as to the extent to which 
they would go for the sake of specific reforms. Some 
believe in cooperating with the parties in power ; some, 
in electoral alliances with the more advanced parties ; 
some, that the members of the party should accept posts 
in the cabinet; others go so far as to say that "the 
movement is everything; the aim nothing." They do 
not, however, disagree with their adversaries as to the 
end. They are all in a sense revolutionists ; but they 
are convinced that we shall arrive at socialism more 
quickly by specific reform, and collaboration with other 
political parties, than by an attitude of uncompromising 
hostility. 

The Marxists believe that no fundamental alteration 
will be made in society except by working-class unity 
and action. The education and organization of the 
workers is, therefore, their chief aim. To them parlia- 
ment is largely a place for propaganda and agitation. 
Reforms gained are looked upon in the light of strength- 
ening the working-class revolt. They do not deny the 
value of reform, but they do not want the end and aim 
of the movement to be confused with what they consider 
as only temporary ameliorations in the capitalist system. 
Furthermore, they claim, and this is their chief argu- 
ment, that reforms are more easily gained by a hostile 
group of working men in parliament, jealously maintain- 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 203 

ing its isolation, than by compromise and collaboration 
with the old parties. In other words they set out to or- 
ganize the people, and to impress upon them the princi- 
ples of socialism, fearing to obscure their ideals by an 
appeal based upon the immediate program alone. 

The battle between these two tendencies raged inside 
and outside the party until the Amsterdam Congress, 
when the Marxists won a signal victory. The latter 
proved that in those countries where the party had been 
the most uncompromising the reforms gained are most 
numerous. For instance, in Germany the movement as 
a whole, despite Bernstein, Vollmar, and other reform- 
ists, has pursued a policy of continuous and bitter hos- 
tility to all other parties. And it is in Germany that 
the most important and fundamental reforms have been 
obtained. It is. not to Italy, France, or Belgium, in 
all of which countries the socialists have allied them- 
selves with the radical parties, that one goes to find the 
most advanced reform legislation. In all these countries, 
the conditions among the masses are abominable. De- 
spite the fact that the socialists have been sufficiently 
powerful in the first two countries to decide the fate of 
nearly all the recent ministries, they have not been able 
to obtain freedom for socialist action, even in those mu- 
nicipalities of which they have control. Millerand was 
certainly responsible for some important legislation, but 
it is not to be compared with that of Germany. The 
fact that the working-class of Europe altered the whole 
political outlook as soon as it became a party working 
in open hostility to the other parties is also proof of the 
soundness of the Marxian tactic. 

The Fabian and reformist tactics are often thought to 
be the same, but there is, it must be said, a vital differ- 



204 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ence between the two policies. The Fabians steadfastly 
decline to adopt the party idea. For years they have 
pursued an adroit and effective policy in permeating the 

liberal party, and especially the progressives of Len- 
der:, with colieetivist views. It would be diddcult to 
overestimate the practical value of the work of Sidney 
Webb, Bernard Shaw, and others, who have for more 
than twenty years carried on a campaign for municipal 
ownership. The Fabian essays and tracts have unques- 
tionably revolutionized the ideas of the younger genera- 
tion. Sidney Webb's " The London Program" and 
" London Education.." and Bernard Shaw's "The Com- 
monsense of Municipal Trading/' are outlines of a fun- 
damental municipal policy. In London the Fabian 
pulley has been extremely successful, and as early as 
iSSS Bernard Shaw says: "We counted the solid ad- 
vantage of a progressive mamrity full of ideas that 
wculd never have come into their heads had not the 
Fabians put them there. The generalship of this 
movement was undertaken c':Air.y by Sidney Webb. 

Liberal thimbles and the Fabian peas, that to this day 
both the Liberals and the sectarian socialists stand 
aghast at him." Wholly without an organized move- 
ment the Fabians have almost from the beginning been 
tne brains, conscience, an:; wul of the progressive 
; crity in the London County Council, and the results 
they have attained are not to de despised. But to say 
this is not to ignore the dangers of their policy. The 
progressives at the last election were defeated, and the 
socialists of London are left in an almost he h; less ::: ci- 
ther, entire';." without a political organization. As a 
contrast, we dud that in Berlin, Paris, Brussels, and 




G. Bernard Shaw. 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 205 

Vienna the socialists have their strongest organizations. 
In Berlin, the party polls a large majority of all votes 
cast. It would be impossible for it to be disorganized 
and rendered helpless by a single defeat. It is a ques- 
tion, therefore, whether the Fabian policy has really been 
successful from the larger point of view. To have a his- 
tory of agitation in London extending over twenty-seven 
years, and to show at the end of that period no definite 
political organization of the working-class, is perhaps 
the most damaging evidence against the Fabian policy. 
The Fabians can, of course, answer that they never in- 
tended to form a political party, which is perfectly true ; 
and in that lies the difference between Fabianism and 
reformism. 

The reformists on the continent have invariably worked 
inside the party, and they have often been most effec- 
tive in building up the political organization, while the 
Fabian policy takes us back to the tactics of the French 
socialists before 1848, who had no thought of organizing 
politically the working-class. They were endeavoring to 
convert the middle class, and without organization to 
capture the government. It was the opinion of nearly 
all socialists of that period that social reorganization 
must come from above, and there were those who be- 
lieved that the advantages of socialism could be made so 
clear to every rational mind that it only needed an in- 
telligent statement to convince mankind. That was the 
view of St. Simon, Fourier, and Robert Owen ; and Louis 
Blanc, Vidal, and Pecqueur endeavored to persuade the 
governing classes to abolish themselves. To Blanc and 
his friends socialism was governmental ownership, or if 
you please, the ownership by the people of certain or all 
forms of industry. They portrayed the evils of our 



206 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

present system ; they sought to abolish competition and 
capitalist institutions. They were all brilliant men, to 
whom modern socialists owe an infinite debt of gratitude ; 
but Marx called them Utopians because they failed to 
realize that the sole means of obtaining their end was 
the organization of the working-class. The present-day 
socialists who hold to this Utopian view often leave the 
party because they feel they can do more effective work 
for socialism through liberal or radical organizations. 
This seems to be the view of Burns, Millerand, Viviani, 
and Briand. It is absurd to question their sincerity 
without more direct and damaging evidence than is now 
possessed by socialists who attack them, but if they re- 
tain their socialist views, they should certainly be classed 
among the Utopians. 

We shall see in a later chapter how Marx condemned 
and finally destroyed the earlier Fabianism, and no finer 
tribute has ever been paid him than that of Jaures, who 
was for a time the foremost reformist on the continent, 
and often an unsparing critic of the Marxists. " To 
Marx belongs the merit, perhaps the only one of all 
attributed to him that has fully withstood the trying 
tests of criticism and of time, of having drawn together 
and unified the labor movement and the socialist idea. 
In the first third of the nineteenth century labor 
struggled and fought against the crushing power of capi- 
tal, but it was not conscious itself toward what end it 
was straining ; it did not know that the true objective 
of its efforts was the common ownership of property. 
And, on the other hand, socialism did not know that 
the labor movement was the living form in which its 
spirit was embodied, the concrete practical force of which 
it stood in need. Marx was the most clearly convinced 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 207 

and the most powerful among those who put an end to 
the empiricism of the labor movement and the Utopian- 
ism of the socialist thought, and this should always be 
remembered to his credit. By a crowning application 
of the Hegelian method, he united the Idea and the 
Fact, thought and history. He enriched the practical 
movement by the idea, and to the theory he added prac- 
tice ; he brought the socialist thought into proletarian 
life, and proletarian life into socialist thought. From 
that time on, socialism and the proletariat became in- 
separable. Socialism can only realize its ideal through 
the victory of the proletariat, and the proletariat can 
only complete its being through the victory of socialism. 
To the ever more pressing question, ' How shall social- 
ism be realized ? ' we must then give the preliminary 
answer, ' By the growth of the proletariat to which it is 
inseparably joined/ This is the first and essential 
answer ; and whoever refuses to accept it w T holly and 
in its true sense, necessarily places himself outside of 
socialist life and thought." It would be impossible to 
state more clearly the distinction between reformism 
and Fabianism.* 

That socialism cannot be realized so long as labor 
remains disorganized and unconscious of its power both 
the Marxists and the reformists are agreed, and it is this 
consideration that led three of the ablest politicians in the 
socialist movement to place higher even than doctrine the 
unified organization of the workers. Liebknecht, de 
Paepe, and Hardie have all sacrificed the program in 
the interest of solidarity. It is unnecessary to dwell 

* Of course I am using the term only as it applies to political tactic?. 
The Fabian Society as a force in socialist education and propaganda cannot 
be overestimated. 



208 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

upon the difference between these tactics and those of 
the Fabians. In the one case the workers are left unor- 
ganized, unconscious of their strength, and incapable of 
exercising their will or of fulfilling their immense obli- 
gations to society. In the other they are taught self- 
respect, independence, and responsibility. They acquire 
a knowledge of their tremendous power when united. 
They become conscious of their moral obligation to each 
other and to society, — an obligation which they cannot 
throw on to other shoulders. Above all they are taken 
out of the corrupting and demoralizing atmosphere of 
Liberal and Tory party patronage which enervates when it 
does not destroy all manly qualities. Fabianism sacri- 
fices all this for the sake of specific reforms, perhaps 
extremely important in themselves and of great social 
value, but they will be obtained fast enough when the 
workers are once organized politically. 

Fortunately there is no disagreement of this sort on 
the continent, and in the sense I have used the term, 
there are few Fabians outside of England.* Reform- 
ism is a different tactic altogether, as it presupposes a 
party. It is a policy to be pursued by the party as a 
whole. It has the same confidence in the conscience 
of the party that the Fabians have in individuals, and 
is without fear that its solidarity will suffer or its social- 

* Perhaps there should be one reservation made to this statement. In 
America there are many socialists and single-taxers who have long pursued 
the Fabian policy. The most striking instance is the brilliant fight of 
Tom Johnson in Cleveland. He has the almost unique distinction of 
having used these tactics with success. But in winning a three-cent fare 
he has done no more than the socialists of Milwaukee, and in addition they 
have built up a great party that has already forced through the legislature 
and city council many important reforms, and promises to become a 
controlling influence in Wisconsin politics. 



SOCIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM 209 

ist aim be obscured by the adoption of a more genial 
and compromising attitude toward the old parties. It 
urges agreements and affiliations before election, and in 
the legislative chambers cooperation with the other 
advanced parties to the extent of forming blocs, and 
any other agreements that will advance reform legisla- 
tion. It considers that there are two distinct parts to 
every socialist program : one essentially reformist, the 
other essentially revolutionary. For the time being it 
would present to the governing classes that part which 
is most easily accepted, and work together with them 
upon that basis, leaving the other part, which exceeds the 
bounds of what is immediately realizable, to the future. 
Reformism as a political policy seemed to reach its 
climax in Europe before the international congress at 
Amsterdam, but the Titanic struggle between Jaures 
and Bebel settled the matter for the time being. Some 
details of that debate have already been given in another 
chapter, and there is no necessity for considering it 
further. Its importance lies in the fact that Marx- 
ism, which had built up modern socialism and had for 
over forty years been the basis of the doctrine and pro- 
gram of the party, was definitely established as the 
political tactic of the international movement. Of 
course this does not mean that the party has abandoned 
efforts for immediate reform. It simply recognizes the 
indisputable fact that the socialist movement cannot 
help being a stupendous reform force, and that no 
matter what course it pursues the mere fact of its exist- 
ence obliges the governing classes to ameliorate the 
conditions of the workers. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 

The parliaments of continental Europe are not mere 
legislative bodies : they exercise a profound influence 
upon thought and life. The newspapers give first place 
to parliamentary news, and during the progress of a 
great debate every detail is followed with interest. The 
entire conversation in cafes, clubs, and even at private 
dinners, is often devoted to the parliamentary events 
of the day. The " full-dress " debates are numerous, 
and resemble in many ways great battles. The chief 
debaters are like generals, each with an enthusiastic 
and devoted following. The parliaments are, therefore, 
not dull and methodical as with us, discussing mere de- 
tails of legislation ; they are in a sense the centre of the 
intellectual life of the community. The discussions 
cover a wide range of subjects. Days and days are 
spent in fighting out questions of principle, and the 
policies of the government are considered both from 
the theoretical and practical standpoint in relation to 
the welfare of the people. It is surprising how little 
there is of moment that does not find its way into par- 
liamentary debates, and one who follows the proceedings 
day by day will find himself au courant with nearly all 
events of national or international importance. 

One reason for this breadth of thought and influence 
upon life is that the European parliaments are in every 

210 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 211 

way more powerful than our own. Historically the lower 
houses have come to be thought the direct representa- 
tives of the people, as opposed to the hereditary power 
of the monarchy or the upper houses. They are thus 
looked upon as nuclei of concentrated public opinion. 
To a degree, therefore, quite unknown to us their deci- 
sions are considered final; and only in case of serious 
danger to the established order do the upper houses or 
monarchs attempt to interfere. The latter, as a result 
of the amazing growth of democracy throughout Europe, 
feel increasingly their precarious position, and they 
rarely interfere when the lower assembly shows a de- 
termined and hostile spirit. The long years of struggle 
between democracy and autocracy have gradually crippled 
the power of the latter in many European countries. 
In republican France the executive has very little power. 
" There is," Sir Henry Maine says, "no living function- 
ary who occupies a more pitiable position than the 
French president. The old kings of France reigned 
and governed, the constitutional king reigns but does 
not govern ; the president of the United States governs 
but does not reign. It has been reserved for the presi- 
dent of the French republic neither to reign nor yet to 
govern." 

And notwithstanding the increasing helplessness of 
the European executive, there is no judiciary to defeat 
the will of the people as expressed in their legislative 
assemblies. The power of the French parliament is 
almost omnipotent, or at least little less so than the 
British parliament. As there is no written constitution 
in England, the law of the legislative assembly is con- 
sidered final. In France it is intended that the constitu- 
tion shall not be changed by the ordinary statute, but if 



212 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the chambers should decide to pass a law that was ob- 
viously unconstitutional, no court or official could legally 
prevent its application. In Italy there has long been a 
dread of judge-made law, and the courts have been 
gradually rendered impotent to thwart legislative de- 
cisions. There is some difference of opinion in Germany 
as to the power of the courts to pass upon the constitu- 
tionality of an imperial law, but it is not at all likely that 
the courts will ever venture to set aside statutes passed 
by the legislature of the empire. In Austria the courts 
can pass upon the validity of ordinances, but are es- 
pecially forbidden to inquire into the constitutionality of 
statutes. Even in Switzerland the legal tribunals must 
enforce without question the laws of the federal assem- 
bly. In none of these countries is there a body vested 
with the supreme authority that rests in our higher 
courts. Both, therefore, in the absolute power of final 
legislation, and in their moral power as representatives 
of the people, most of the lower houses of the parliaments 
of Western Europe exercise a dominant influence upon 
the course of progress. 

Even this does not exhaust the constitutional rights 
of the European legislators. They also exercise an 
effective control over the policy of the administration. 
It is thought that to have the power to pass laws without 
being permitted in any sense to control their method of 
enforcement is to render the popular assembly well-nigh 
helpless. Little by little, therefore, the lower houses 
have brought under their control the ministers in charge 
of the various executive departments; and in nearly 
every country in Europe they are now directly responsi- 
ble to the lower house. When the government is a 
highly centralized one, this power of supervision and of 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 213 

effective criticism is perhaps as important as the legisla- 
tive work itself. 

In all European parliaments the legislators have the 
right to question the administration upon its acts, and 
even in advance upon its policies. In England this 
rarely goes beyond questions, but in France, Italy, and 
Belgium, the custom has grown into extended inter- 
pellations. In Germany this right of questioning the 
government is invaluable, as the legislative power of the 
Reichstag is limited, and the lack of ordinary political 
rights would otherwise prevent the socialists from exer- 
cising any considerable influence. This privilege enables 
the socialists to use the Reichstag as a platform for 
speaking to the people. It is customary in some coun- 
tries to limit the use of questions, and often they may 
be addressed to a minister only with his consent. But 
the interpellation is a matter of right, which any repre- 
sentative may exercise irrespective of the wishes of the 
cabinet. Thus it is often the vehicle for the severest 
criticism of the government ; and as any section of par- 
liament may exercise it at will, it gives that section, no 
matter how small, an exceptional opportunity to place its 
views before the country. 

It would be impossible to overestimate the value to 
democracy of the right of interpellation. It is an in- 
valuable aid to those whose rights are jeopardized by 
official violence or by any form of governmental injustice. 
Except in Russia, and a few of the more backward coun- 
tries, it is inconceivable that in Europe men should be shot, 
deported from their homes, denied every constitutional 
protection, and put at the mercy of martial law, — as 
happened for a period of many months a year or so ago 
in Colorado, — without the entire country knowing both 



214 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

sides of the case. And it is for exactly this reason that 
the right of interpellation is regarded in Europe as one 
of the main bulwarks of political liberty. 

A dramatic element adds to the influence of European 
parliaments. A section of a legislative body may at any 
moment overturn an unpopular administration. Again 
and again cabinets are forced to resign as a result of 
acts which, if committed daily by American executives, 
would go unquestioned. In watching the French 
chamber at work for a few weeks I saw the socialists 
several times give the government a thoroughly un- 
pleasant trouncing : twice upon its policy in dealing 
with two serious strikes, and once it was put in danger 
over the administration of the law defining the relation 
of the church to the state. Upon these occasions the 
debates were of intense interest, and it seemed as if all 
Paris were watching the outcome. 

But the debates in the European legislatures are not 
limited to specific questions of administrative policy. 
There is no hesitancy whatever to grapple with great 
and fundamental social, economic, and political principles. 
In fact, nearly all questions having to do with adminis- 
trative policy present themselves, in one way or another, 
either as the working out or the violation of some general 
principle which is supposed to underlie social institu- 
tions. During the last decade the socialists have led 
most of these battles ; and naturally, as their attitude is 
severely critical of the principles underlying the present 
order, they have again and again drawn the representa- 
tives of the majority into heated discussions upon funda- 
mentals. In this way Bebel used to be pitted against 
Bismarck, and is now carrying on, from day to day, a 
running parliamentary battle with von Buelow. In 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 21 5 

France, it is Jaures against Clemenceau, in Belgium 
Vandervelde against de Smet de Neyer, and in Italy 
Ferri against Giolitti. On the occasions of these great 
debates the galleries are crowded, and thousands fail to 
obtain seats, while the people generally display an un- 
flagging interest. 

This is all in extraordinary contrast to our own parlia- 
mentary life, which passes on from day to day without 
raising a single ripple of excitement One can even 
read the papers diligently and not obtain any consecu- 
tive notion of what is happening in the chief legislative 
body of the nation. The people know that nothing of 
any importance is going to happen, and they fully real- 
ize that the legislature has little power, and almost no 
desire to exercise that power in the interest of the com- 
munity. As there exist only two parties, there is nearly 
always a permanent majority during the legislative 
session ; and while in other countries this would give 
the party in power an opportunity to carry out its policy 
unhindered, it seems to be with us an opportunity to 
prevent the passage of any measure of national interest. 
The body is strictly limited to legislative work, and the 
ministers and executive are in no wise responsible to it. 
Decentralized government puts quite out of the reach of 
our legislators some of the most important executive 
departments; and no matter how badly, unjustly, or 
even autocratically the law is administered, the legisla- 
ture has no power to interfere ; it can only retort by 
some change in the law. Our parliamentary work, 
therefore, consists largely in passing laws which are 
soon repealed, and then with the growth of abuses 
passed again. Our executive is only less powerful than 
our judiciary, which in America exercises an autocratic 



2l6 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

influence over the course of legislation ; so that, instead 
of being governed by popularly elected representatives, 
we are the subjects of a judiciary which wields a greater 
power than that vested in any monarch or upper house 
of Western Europe. 

In addition to these constitutional disabilities we suffer 
from the fact that our electoral power is in the hands of 
two political parties, while in nearly all continental 
countries there are many parties. It is an old custom 
among the Anglo-Saxons for two parties to battle for su- 
premacy. The institution is being mutilated at present 
in England, but in America it remains unimpaired. To 
a certain extent both parties exist without principles, 
and the main distinction between them is that one is 
out and the other is in. On the continent the various 
parties represent widely different principles and in- 
terests, perhaps as a rule the latter more than the 
former. Thus in nearly every country there are politi- 
cal groups representing royalty, the landowning interests, 
the capitalists, and the workers. In some cases, how- 
ever, the parties avow certain principles ; and, of course, 
in all countries the socialist party rests its entire cam- 
paign upon a definite program, fully stating its funda- 
mental principles and doctrines. Instead of two parties, 
therefore, the political forces are broken up into number- 
less groups representing almost every phase of national 
life; and when a government comes into power, it is 
confronted by the difficult problem of trying to har- 
monize the interests of a sufficient number of represen- 
tatives to form a working majority. 

This splitting up of the political forces into groups is 
largely due to the system of voting. The second ballot 
is in almost general use. The theory is that where three 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 217 

or four candidates are in the field, one may be elected 
without having obtained the support of an actual major- 
ity of the constituents. The first ballot enables all the 
various groups to vote for a candidate directly represent- 
ing their own interests ; but at the second election only 
the two candidates that received the highest number of 
votes remain in the field. This electoral method enables 
the various sections to test their strength at the first 
ballot, knowing that if they fail in electing their own 
representative, they have still an opportunity to elect the 
one who seems to them the better of the two candidates 
remaining in the field. As a result it is possible for the 
voters on the continent to maintain a party with princi- 
ples, instead of being forced to vote at all times for the 
one whom they consider the better of two candidates 
put forward by the opposing political machines. How- 
ever inefficient or dishonest the candidates may be, no 
other choice exists where only two parties battle for 
supremacy. 

This is, of course, what happens repeatedly in Amer- 
ica. Except for an occasional independent campaign, 
and the nominees of the prohibition and socialist 
parties, the voters are forced to select one of two can- 
didates, both of whom may be unprincipled and in- 
efficient. When it occurs, as it does frequently, that 
the two main political organizations are secretly united 
for the purpose of betraying the people, representative 
democracy becomes a farce, and government by the 
people degenerates into government by two unprinci- 
pled and predatory machines. The evil is not a new 
one, and various independent political parties have been 
alive to its dangers. In 1874 a party was formed in 
California, which denounced in its program the doctrine 



2l8 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

of party fealty and the tyranny of party discipline as 
the greatest political evils of the time. Twenty years 
later the Populist party declared that the nation had 
been brought to the verge of moral, political, and 
material ruin by the corruption which dominates the 
ballot-box, the legislatures, the congress, and the ju- 
diciary. "We have witnessed/' the program says, "for 
more than a quarter of a century the struggle of the 
two great political parties for power and plunder." 

Again and again these independent movements have 
arisen with the idea of breaking down machine rule. 
Both the Greenbackers and the Populists obtained the 
rank of national parties, with seats in Congress, and 
even in the Senate ; but as soon as they began to ex- 
ercise a really important influence one of the old parties 
adopted their program or some of their candidates, 
with the result in every case of destroying the organ- 
ization. The first campaign of Henry George in New 
York and the recent one led by William R. Hearst 
were destroyed in a similar manner. There is no 
question but that it would have been easier for these 
movements to have continued independent if the second 
ballot had been in use; but even without the second 
ballot a party with the highest principles, and with a 
consciousness of the power which a hostile third party 
can exercise, even in the face of formidable opposition, 
might have come to occupy a position similar to that 
held by like parties in Europe. Unfortunately the 
Americans seem not yet to realize that an independent 
movement, which can force one of the old parties to 
adopt its program, might exercise a similar power in 
other directions by continuing its independent methods. 
In nearly every country of Europe the old parties have 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 2ig 

pursued the tactic of partially adopting the socialist pro- 
gram for the purpose of destroying the movement, but 
in each case the attempt has failed. The socialists 
have considered this as only the beginning of their in- 
fluence as an independent political force. 

The lack of principles and political foresight, and 
especially the overwhelming desire to win power im- 
mediately and by strategy, which often distinguish the 
" reform " movements from the socialist movement, have 
enabled the bosses to outwit and divide every sincere 
body of radicals, with the result that the corporations 
are now in complete control of all our law-making 
bodies, leaving America with the unenviable and unique 
distinction of being the only large country where work- 
ing men have no representation in its chief legislature. 
The House of Representatives is a striking instance 
of the dominant power of capitalism. Neither the 
farmers nor the working-class as such have any directly 
controlled representatives. The Senate is largely a 
body of millionaires and their legal retainers. As a 
rule over 60 per cent are lawyers, and the rest are 
nearly all capitalists, without the slightest interest in 
or sympathy with the workers. It is the same in the 
House, where again not less than 60 per cent are 
also lawyers ; that is to say, railroad attorneys and the 
representatives of the great monopolies and favored 
business interests. In case "a friend of the Peepul,' , 
as he would be called in Washington, happens to get 
into the House or the Senate, the legislative machines 
are so strong that they effectually prevent the recal- 
citrant individual from being heard. The speaker of 
the house is often referred to as a Czar, and he ex- 
ercises a tyranny over the representatives which would 



220 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

not be tolerated in any other parliament. The United 
States Congress is, therefore, the least democratic legis- 
lature in any advanced country ; and for this reason we 
are the most backward in all forms of legal protection 
of the life and interests of the masses. 

Passing from these striking contrasts between the 
parliamentary situation with us and that existing in 
Europe, we find that the socialist groups in the various 
parliaments occupy a peculiar position among the other 
political representatives. To begin with they are con- 
trolled by a large party membership, which, through 
its representatives, has agreed upon a complete politi- 
cal program and devised a conscious and definite par- 
liamentary policy. The other parties of Europe are 
ordinarily without organization, sometimes consisting of 
little more than electoral groups or national clubs. The 
parliamentary representatives are, therefore, not as a rule 
bound to any program. In the case of the socialists the 
parliamentary group is always under the direct control 
of the party, and this constitutes a rather striking innova- 
tion in political methods. The general scheme of politi- 
cal organization was worked out first by the Germans, 
whose socialist party is older by far than that of any 
other country. As early as 1867 there were eight repre- 
sentatives in the Reichstag, and by 1884 there were 
twenty-four. So that the Germans began to exercise a 
parliamentary influence nearly twenty years before the 
socialists of any other country. France did not win any 
seats until 1887. The Belgians obtained representation 
first in 1894, and the Italians, while winning their first 
victory in the early eighties, exercised no influence until 
1895. The German movement, therefore, was early 
forced to meet problems unknown to the workers of 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 221 

other countries, and to fight out its parliamentary policy 
and electoral tactics without precedents to be guided by. 
It was natural that there should have been some con- 
fusion during the early days, and indeed the leaders 
were greatly divided as to what policy the party should 
pursue in parliament. The Lassallians were willing to 
make the most of parliamentary alliances in order to 
obtain an amelioration in the condition of the workers, 
while Liebknecht was at first violently anti-parliamen- 
tary, fearing lest the energies of socialism should be en- 
gulfed in the swamp of parliamentarism. He wished 
to go to the Reichstag merely to protest against the 
capitalist regime, and especially against the " blood 
and iron" policy of Bismarck, and after protesting, to 
leave without resigning his seat. It was a rather melo- 
dramatic method for a party to pursue, but it must be 
remembered that the government was then carrying on 
a ferocious policy of persecution against socialists. The 
organization itself was illegal, and it was next to impos- 
sible for its leaders to entertain the idea of a working 
arrangement with anybody not actually a member of 
their secret organization. It was Bebel who first broke 
away from this negative policy, and when in 1869 he 
took an active part in the discussion upon the revision 
of the industrial laws, and even took a place upon the 
commission instituted to study the question, Liebknecht 
at a public meeting pronounced a severe criticism of his 
action. He maintained that it was impossible to obtain 
anything except by force from a parliament made up of 
the enemies of labor. " What practical object have we 
then," he asked, " in making speeches in the Reichstag ? 
None whatever; and to speak without an object is a 
fool's pleasure." 



222 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

It was not long, however, before Bebel and Liebknecht 
came to an understanding, and at the congress of the 
Social Democratic Party in 1870 the delegates, after dis- 
cussion, adopted a definite parliamentary policy. They 
agreed that the main purpose in taking part in elections 
was to carry on the socialist propaganda, but that the 
parliamentary group, while maintaining in general a 
strictly negative attitude, should nevertheless take part 
in all discussions of proposed legislation affecting the 
interests of the workers. But even this policy, while 
more advanced than the other, became inadequate as the 
party grew in power. At nearly every election their 
votes increased, and from little more than 100,000 
in 1 87 1 the number increased to over 2,000,000 in 
1898. As its following became greater, its responsi- 
bilities grew heavier, and every one saw that a broader 
parliamentary policy was necessary. At the national 
congress in 1897 Liebknecht himself took the initia- 
tive, and frankly stated that events, and especially the 
growth of the party, had forced him to alter radically 
his theory of parliamentary tactics. He criticised un- 
sparingly his own former policy of anti-parliamentarism, 
which he called contemptuously the tactic of talk ; and 
advocated with eloquence and power a complete and 
practical parliamentary policy with all liberty to the 
party's representatives in working for specific legisla- 
tion intended to ameliorate the condition of the workers. 
"That is the necessary tactic of the party, a tactic 
infinitely more revolutionary than the tactic of talk," he 
said amidst tremendous applause. " Yes, comrades, he 
who does nothing at all except to mouth revolutionary 
phrases is at his ease to judge and to condemn ; he who 
does nothing can make no mistakes. But he who acts, 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 223 

he can easily make mistakes ; but he is in the struggle, 
and that is of much more account than the making of 
beautiful phrases." 

But despite the fact that the party did not revise its 
parliamentary policy until the nineties, the movement 
itself was exercising a profound influence upon the 
course of legislation. As early as the seventies the 
German government began to fear the rising tide of 
socialism, and in 1878 Prince Bismarck told the Reichs- 
tag : " I will further every endeavor which positively 
aims at improving the condition of the working-class. 
. . . As soon as a positive proposal comes from the 
socialists for fashioning the future in a sensible way, 
in order that the lot of working men may be improved, 
I will not at any rate refuse to examine it favorably, 
and I will not even shrink from the idea of state help 
for those who have the disposition to help themselves." 
Along with this statement came the proposal for the 
compulsory insurance of the working-class. A few 
years later Bismarck proclaimed his belief in the justice 
of the socialists' contention that every man should have 
the right to work ; and in comment he said : " Give the 
working man the right to employment as long as he 
has health. Assure him care when he is sick, and 
maintenance when he is old. If you will do that with- 
out fearing the sacrifice, or crying out 'state socialism' 
directly the words ' provision for old age ' are uttered, 
. . . then I believe that the gentlemen of the Wyden 
(Social Democratic) program will sound their bird-call 
in vain ; and as soon as the working men see that the 
government is earnestly concerned for their welfare, 
the thronging to them will cease." 

These two quotations from Bismarck's speeches in the 



224 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Reichstag show the already great influence of the so- 
cialist movement. Even the socialists were astonished 
at the change in the attitude of the government ; and 
it seemed a remarkable victory to have forced auto- 
cratic Germany to revolutionize its economic policy. 
If the government had ceased persecuting the social- 
ists, while granting these concessions to their program, 
it might have disarmed them. But as it was, the so- 
cialists and not the government obtained the entire 
credit. Bebel said at the time, in the humorous and 
confidential manner he occasionally assumes toward 
his opponents in the Reichstag: "I will frankly tell 
you something. If anything has furthered the social 
democratic agitation and tendency, it is the fact that 
Prince Bismarck has to a certain extent declared for 
socialism and social reform ; only one must remember 
that we are in this case the master and he the scholar. 
People are saying everywhere : When to-day Prince Bis- 
marck with his great authority comes forward and not 
only acknowledges the existence of a social question, — 
which only a few years ago was emphatically denied 
by the ruling authorities, — but even declares for so- 
cialism, and regards it as his duty to introduce meas- 
ures on the subject, then it may well be concluded that 
social democracy is at bottom right. ,, 

At this time the two chief leaders in the German 
movement were Liebknecht and Bebel. Liebknecht 
was the older of the two, and a man of exceptional 
education. "As far back as the beginning of the 
eighteenth century," Edward Aveling says, "an an- 
cestor of his was professor and rector of the Univer- 
sity of Giessen," and in the middle of the sixteenth 
century a forebear, Martin Luther, " was making some 




Wilhelm Liebknecht. 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 225 

stir in the world." His thorough education and schol- 
arly instincts led Liebknecht to think of a university 
career, but strong democratic sympathies forced him 
to take a part in the various revolutionary outbreaks 
which were occurring in 1848, in all parts of Europe. 
He lay in prison for nine months as a result of his 
revolutionary ardor, and finally he was exiled and 
forced to live in England for nearly thirteen years. 
There he met Marx, and carried on his studies directly 
under his influence and tutelage. In 1862 there was 
an amnesty for political offenders, and Liebknecht re- 
turned to Germany. A few years later, having been 
banished from Prussia, he went to Leipsic, where he 
met Bebel. The trade unions were then growing in 
power, and Bebel and Liebknecht joined forces. In 
1867 the latter was again imprisoned, but nevertheless 
in September of the same year he was elected to the 
Reichstag, where as a result of his superior educa- 
tion he was more than a match for his parliamentary 
opponents. 

Bebel, on the contrary, was a working man, and in 
the early days of his parliamentary career his language 
was rough and unpolished. Occasionally he made gram- 
matical errors, and was hooted at by his opponents, who 
even called out that one who could not speak German 
properly ought not to pretend to talk to educated peo- 
ple. Nevertheless, Bebel represented infinitely more 
than Liebknecht, personifying, as it were, the entrance 
to power of the men of toil. One can understand that 
it must have been annoying to the aristocrats to have 
had this rough agitator break into their midst, and at 
first Bebel had to suffer day by day the ridicule and 
even the insults of the representatives of the educated 

Q 



226 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

classes. But Bebel had the natural power of oratory, 
and even in those days he often humiliated his proud 
opponents. 

Princess Catherine Radziwill gives an interesting 
picture of Bebel in her recently published memoirs of 
life at the German and Russian courts. It was at the 
time Bismarck was trying to force through the Reichstag 
the anti-socialist laws ; and she says the debates between 
Bebel and Bismarck were listened to feverishly by all 
those who could get access to the house. " They were 
opened," she says, "by the Chancellor himself, who 
spoke for over an hour, and to him Bebel replied in a 
speech which deserved to go down to posterity as an 
example of eloquence. Never were such impassioned 
accents heard within the walls of the old building; 
every one felt moved by the strange persuasiveness with 
which this remarkable man appealed to the sense of 
justice and humanity of the whole German nation, ab- 
juring it not to make outcasts of thousands of its chil- 
dren. In listening to those savage accents one seemed 
to hear, made vocal, the writing on the wall, which 
amid the splendors of the Persian king's supper 
appeared to remind him that * for all these things he 
would be brought into judgment/ It is impossible," she 
continues, " not to be moved by an argument when it 
comes from the lips of Bebel. He speaks of poverty, 
of misery, of vice, as a man who has known and suf- 
fered from these things. He knows how to excite his 
listeners' pity, not for imaginary facts, but for painful 
and sad truths. He knows how to make them touch 
with their finger all the evils of which he spdaks to 
them, — he surpassed himself, but his efforts were 
doomed before they were made." 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 227 

It is a curious example of the irony of fate that the 
crude, rough working man of forty years ago is to-day 
one of the greatest powers in Europe. He was always 
an orator, and to-day he is the ablest parliamentarian in 
Germany. Now one of the oldest and most experi- 
enced men in the Reichstag, his memory and his inti- 
mate knowledge of the events of the last half century 
give to his utterances an authoritative value that is not 
equalled even by those of the emperor. Despite the 
fact that he represents in the Reichstag a small minority, 
no other member exercises a personal influence equal 
to his ; and one can actually feel a thrill of excitement 
pass through the chamber when he rises to speak. 
Professor Theodor Mommsen, the great German histo- 
rian, once said, " Everybody in Germany knows that 
with brains like those of Bebel, it would be possible to 
furnish forth a dozen noblemen from the east of the 
Elbe in a fashion that would make them shine among 
their peers. " 

It would serve no useful purpose to treat in detail one 
of the many great debates that have occurred in the 
Reichstag between the socialists and their opponents. 
Hardly a month passes without one of importance. 
And I have already shown the immense influence of 
the movement in obtaining the most revolutionary re- 
form legislation that exists in any country in Europe. 
The running fire of criticism and the hostility of the 
socialists have simply broken down and shattered all of 
the cherished principles of economic liberalism. The 
government has been driven to abandon one after an- 
other, and by the sheer force of socialist opposition it 
has been obliged to grant a series of fundamental social 
and industrial rights. Bismarck granted in principle 



228 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the right to employment, and the imperial legislation 
grants the right of compensation to the aged, to the 
sick and infirm, and to those injured in industry. The 
right of trade union organization, of striking, and of 
peaceful picketing are also now assured by the law, and 
the government throws upon the manufacturing classes 
the entire responsibility for accidents. The right of the 
community to its natural resources, to its public utili- 
ties, and to the unearned increment arising from the 
sale and transfer of land, have also been won in prin- 
ciple, and in no small degree worked out in practice. 

The real significance of the parliamentary victories of 
the socialists lies in the fact that the workers are no 
longer at the complete mercy of the capitalists. They 
have won for themselves important means of defence, 
and instead of being forced individually to deal with their 
employers they have acquired entire freedom in their 
battle to force collective contracts. Some of the worst 
forms of capitalist exploitation are done away with by 
labor legislation, which establishes a certain standard of 
conditions to be observed in industry ; and if an em- 
ployee is rendered incapable of further labor, he and 
his family are insured care and protection, instead of 
being forced to become beggars and paupers. While 
the socialists are pressing upon the state a higher con- 
ception of its social duties, they are at the same time 
breaking down the polity which acknowledges that all 
natural resources and all forms of profitable enterprise 
are divinely established for the benefit of the capitalist ; 
and as a direct result, the state is taking into its own 
hands some of the most important and socially necessary 
of the capitalistic enterprises. 

The German party is the oldest, and because of that 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 229 

it has more to its credit than any other movement, but 
the influence of socialists is quite as clearly seen in the 
parliaments of other countries. In the chapter on the 
British movement some details are given of the power 
exercised by the Labor Party during the last two years. 
The gain in legislation is considerable, but the most 
striking change to be noticed as a result of the advent 
of labor is the new atmosphere in the House of Com- 
mons. What used to be " the most exclusive and inter- 
esting gentlemen's club in Europe " has been invaded 
by working men, and their presence alone has revolu- 
tionized the old order. Their election is a direct impu- 
tation that the Liberals and Tories have neglected the 
public welfare, and that the public know it and have 
lost confidence in them. Probably no other aristocracy 
in Europe has in the past enjoyed a power so free from 
restraint and criticism on the part of the lower classes 
as the British, and it realizes instinctively the funda- 
mental danger of the present situation. 

This feeling is entirely a product of the last two 
years, although Hardie has from the beginning irritated 
and offended the representatives of the old order. 
Shortly after his entrance to parliament he found the 
House one day in the midst of rejoicing because a son 
had been born in the royal family. There was a great 
demonstration, and messages of congratulation and 
felicitation were sent to the mother. At almost the 
same moment there occurred in Wales a terrible colliery 
disaster in which many miners were buried alive, and 
Hardie arose in the midst of the parliamentary rejoic- 
ings to ask the House to send to the wives, mothers, 
and sisters of the miners some expression of its sym- 
pathy. It would be impossible to describe the effect of 



230 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

his request. The members of what was supposed to be 
the nation's house of representatives were so completely 
bound up in their narrow family circles that to them the 
death of these workers was no more than a passing 
newspaper story ; and the mere mention of this terrible 
accident during the progress of the festivities was an 
unwarrantable piece of impudence and bad taste. It was 
certainly awkward and annoying, but it was significant of 
the broad horizon that the representatives of the work- 
ing men bring with them when they enter parliament. 
It seems a breaking down of class lines ; but while it 
does not go as far as that, it has nevertheless worked a 
revolution in the psychology of the House of Commons. 
One day the question of the unemployed was being 
debated, and Hardie sat alone, stung and embittered by 
the lack of all consideration or sympathy for the un- 
happy starving wanderers, until, unable to contain him- 
self longer, he called out, " You well-fed beasts ! " It 
was not a remark that one expected to hear in the 
House ; but it had its effect on the tone of the discus- 
sion. Upon a similar occasion, Will Crooks said with 
some fire, in answer to the Liberals and Tories who had 
been saying that the unemployed were lazy, lounging 
vagabonds who did not want work, that he had observed 
a goodly number of vagrants about Rotten Row — a 
fashionable English promenade — dressed in top-hats 
and £pats. On still another occasion, when a bill was 
before the House for the feeding of school children, the 
gentlemen of the old parties had been saying over and 
over again that the children were hungry not so much 
because of poverty as because their mothers did not 
know how to cook, or preferred drinking in the saloons, 
or gossiping with their neighbors, to attending to their 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 23 1 

household duties. This would have passed without 
comment in the old House; it would have been thought 
perfectly proper to have referred in this manner to 
several million mothers. But in the new order it was 
taken as an insult by the men on the labor benches, 
and one can imagine the electric effect on the House 
when Hardie remarked that it was embarrassing for the 
labor members to sit quietly in their seats while hearing 
their wives described as slatterns. These are, of course, 
the merest incidents of debate, but I cannot help think- 
ing they are more significant than legislation. In- 
stead of merely a few landowners, younger sons of 
noblemen, barristers, solicitors, capitalists, and other 
gentlemen spending their time largely in discussing 
their own affairs, and with some annoyance philanthrop- 
ically deciding to give an occasional evening to a bill 
having to do with remedying the frightful abuses of the 
English slums, and the wretched conditions of a dete- 
riorating populace of some 12,000,000, there are now at 
least a few representatives of the underworld who have 
forced their way into the midst of these oligarchs, to 
insist upon the necessity for social reform. 

To say the least, the upper classes do not like it, and 
being rather put to it to find a way out, they have 
begun an attack upon socialism which is far from 
observing that spirit of fair-play upon which the Briton 
has always prided himself. At every new election 
fought by labor, and at every sign of its increasing 
power, the bitterness grows more intense ; until now 
the propertied interests have entered upon a crusade 
against socialism and are trying to prove that it advo- 
cates free love, the destruction of the family, atheism, 
and the outright confiscation of private property. 



2f2 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Many well-known men, including some prominent 
nobles, are at preser.: issuing manifestos warning 
the people of the danger to England of this new 
movement. At first the campaign was so absurd that 
the socialists looked upon it complacently, and even 
considered it a valuable asset to their propaganda, but 
the din grew, until at present these attacks from thou- 
sands of platforms and nearly all the newspapers have 
become too serious to be ignored. Finally Bruce Glas- 
ier, the able editor of " The Labour Leader," like a lion 
at bay, has turned upon the accusers, and for several 
weeks has answered their charges by a series of articles 
so damaging to the Liberals and Tories that they plan 
already to abandon their method of attack. 

In answer to the charge that socialism is spoliation, 
Glasier has given the shameless Facts of confiscation, 
bribery, and corruption, that have been practised by 
prominent English families in building up their vast 
fortunes. In answer to the criticism that socialism wishes 
to alter the marriage relation and to establish a licentious 
system of free love, he takes up one after another of the 
Liberals and Tories who have advocated the loosest of 
sexual relationships, and lived lives of the grossest im- 
morality. As a testimony upon upper-class ethics, he 
quotes one marquis to the effect that "There is no 
law of nature, human or divine, in man's present state 
which confines him to one woman, and that not one 
man in ten thousand could on his deathbed swear that 
he had truly obeyed the marriage law." He prints the 
infamous memorandum of Lord Roberts, a Tory, issued 
in June, 1886, which instituted compulsory medical ser- 
vice for the inspection of prostitutes for the Indian 
Army, and drew from an under officer a request that 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 233 

more young and attractive women should be sent out. 
In answer to the accusation that socialism is agnostic, 
Glasier pursues the same policy of proving that for 
every militant agnostic among the socialists of any im- 
portance there are many among the Liberals and Tories. 
He shows that socialism has nothing in common with 
confiscation or spoliation, with any change in the mar- 
riage relation, or with any alteration in the religious 
views of the individual. The response of the socialists 
to these attacks is by no means limited to this effective 
work of Bruce Glasier in "The Labour Leader." Rob- 
ert Blatchford and all the other journalists have taken 
a hand in the fight, and the campaigners of both the 
labor and socialist parties are addressing enormous 
audiences at about two thousand meetings every week. 
I have dealt at length with this situation in Eng- 
land because it illustrates what occurred in other coun- 
tries of Europe as soon as socialism began to force 
its way into parliament. Similar arguments were used 
against it in Germany during the seventies, when the 
movement began to be formidable there; and by imput- 
ing to it responsibility for some attacks upon the life of 
the emperor, and repeatedly referring to it as a criminal 
organization advocating every immorality, Bismarck 
was enabled to force through the Reichstag his iniqui- 
tous measures which made outlaws of all socialists. 
In France during the eighties and early nineties the 
same thing occurred, and in Italy, although the so- 
cialists oppose the anarchists, they are invariably held 
responsible for the work of the latter in encourag- 
ing insurrection and violence. What is happening at 
the present moment in England is, therefore, typical, 
but this form of attack has nowhere in Europe availed 



234 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to defeat socialism. Indeed, with hardly a single ex- 
ception it may be said to have aided the movement, for 
as soon as the people have discovered that the attitude 
of the upper classes is one of intentional misrepresen- 
tation they have turned to the socialists with increasing 
enthusiasm. And when the upper classes in other 
countries have learned that misrepresentation and false- 
hood have only a momentary effect, and are followed 
by a strong reaction, they have settled down to a policy 
of social reform. 

We are beginning to see the same change in attitude 
on the part of the British upper classes.* The more 
far-seeing political leaders begin to realize that the 
campaign of nastiness and falsehood is not hurting 
socialism, and they are now exerting themselves to stop 
this method of attack. Lord Milner openly rebukes 
the anti-socialist campaigners, and suggests a response 
similar to that of Bismarck to the rising tide of revolu- 
tionary feeling. " The true antidote to socialism," he 
says, " is practical social reform,'' and he urges with 

* There is a fain: run:;: that many of the sincere radicals in the Lib- 
eral Party are becoming convinced that this campaign is a cloak fir reac- 
tion, and that back of it are men in the Liberal and Tory parties who 
besire n:t cnly t: :up:se rev:luti:nary sccialism. but als: every efftrt to 
ameliorate the condition of the masses. These reactionaries are notori- 
ously unsympathetic toward every democratic aspiration, and consistently, 



ishness and inhumanity of the reaction 
ru:n:rei that unless a rr.a;:rity is :: be : 
structive policy of social reform, the mor 

-: :-:.:-:/ :::::n a r.e.v "arty resetr.lilir.g 
.-lists of France. 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 235 

passionate intensity the necessity for remedying the 
wrongs of private property in time to save the country 
from getting into the hands of the revolutionary ele- 
ments. Many other prominent leaders are expressing 
the same views, and it is unquestionable that the pres- 
ent inadvisable method of meeting advancing socialism 
will be revised. It is not improbable, therefore, that 
within the next few years we shall see both the Liberal 
and Tory parties competing with each other to intro- 
duce social legislation as radical in character as the 
state socialism of Germany. 

In both Germany and England, therefore, we: find 
that socialism is a powerful parliamentary force, and 
even occupies a foremost place in the thought of the 
entire community. And this is not less true of France 
and Italy. In the Latin countries the fear of socialism 
on the part of the upper classes has become almost a 
mania. Two causes lie at the bottom of this dread. 
The first is the revolutionary tradition among the 
Latin peoples ; and secondly, there is hardly an upper- 
class man in Italy or France who does not fear that 
the slightest change in events may bring the socialists 
into power. In talking with well-to-do men one fre- 
quently hears it said, with a kind of despair, that 
socialism is inevitable. Among the masses it arouses 
unbounded enthusiasm, and it is unquestionable that 
it is fast taking hold of the entire working-class. It 
is sometimes difficult to account for its influence, be- 
cause as a rule the movement is badly organized in 
these countries, and most of its adherents rarely read 
socialist books or pamphlets. It is more of an instinc- 
tive movement than one finds in England, which gives 
an Anglo-Saxon the feeling of unsafe foundations. 



236 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

In Italy the political leaders of the older parties 
lack the power to concentrate the propertied classes 
upon really effective measures of social reform. The 
reactionaries are extremists with no faith in any other 
method of dealing with discontent than massacring 
the people at every sign of an uprising, and limiting 
the right of free speech, combination, and the suffrage. 
Their retort to the cry of misery is martial law, a 
permanent form of which they tried to force through 
parliament in 1899. The effect of repression is, of 
course, not what they hope for, as instead of pacifying 
they inflame the masses until they resort to violence 
and lawlessness. The parties of the Right will not see 
that the workers are driven by starvation to bread 
riots and strikes, and they refuse the demands of the 
socialists for remedial legislation. As a result a situa- 
tion is created with which no party is able to cope. 
Between the reactionaries above and the anarchists 
below the socialists are the only constructive force in 
Italy. 

The middle parties are weak and wavering. Without 
principles they seek and obtain power under the cover 
of one or two leaders of excellent character who are 
popular in the country. The radicals, the republicans, 
and the socialists, who form the extreme Left, are 
unable to come to any permanent agreement because 
of vital differences in their views. Recent parliamen- 
tary history is, therefore, a continuous record of repeated 
upheavals resulting from these clashing forces. The 
failure to agree upon any measures for ameliorating the 
poverty-stricken condition of the masses leads the 
latter more and more to despair of parliamentary 
methods. Anarchism is again making headway among 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 237 

the most wretched of the workers, and leading them 
to desperate revolts and insurrections, which the social- 
ists, with all their power, cannot prevent, or when once 
started, control. 

Recently when a radical ministry came into power, 
the socialists gave it support upon the assurance that 
it would carry out a program of social reform. One 
was actually drawn up that included extremely im- 
portant and advanced legislation in the interests of the 
people. The king himself seemed favorable, and it 
looked for a time as if Italy had settled down to a 
constructive parliamentary policy which promised relief 
to the masses ; but after a time some strikers were shot. 
The union between the radicals and the socialists was 
then broken, and the same old parliamentary antago- 
nisms flared up again. 

This is the darker side of Italian parliamentary life, 
and it is really difficult to see how the situation will 
work itself out. As I have said in the chapter on 
Italy, the socialists have performed an enormously 
useful work in the exposure of corruption. They have 
unquestionably the ablest leaders in Italian political 
life. Every fair-minded Italian realizes the moderation 
of their minimum program, which even Professor Villari, 
a conservative leader, says every sensible man could 
indorse almost in its entirety. But there seems no 
immediate prospect of the socialists gaining a par- 
liamentary majority, and until that is accomplished 
misery on the one side and brutal reaction on the 
other make peaceful methods barren, while violence 
only results in increasing misery and suffering for the 
unfortunate workers. The situation in Italy presents 
stupendous difficulties to the socialists, and while no 



238 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

one can help admiring their parliamentary leaders, and 
recognizing the superior ability of Ferri and Turati, 
who are so fearless and honest, so passionate in debate, 
so careless of consequences to themselves, one cannot 
think of the future without some misgiving. 

Of all parties the French socialists seem the most 
fortunate. They have many able orators, and both 
Guesde and Jaures are skilled parliamentarians. Un- 
fortunately, while I was in Paris last winter, ill-health 
forced Guesde to be away, so that I did not see him 
at work in the chamber ; but I heard Jaures many 
times. It would be difficult to imagine a person who 
possessed in a larger degree the necessary qualities of 
a parliamentary leader. He is not a small man among 
small men ; he is a big man among big men. I mean 
by that that the French chamber contains more brill- 
iant orators and debaters than any other parliament in 
Europe. First and foremost among them is Clemenceau. 
He has a remarkable attraction for the French people, 
as he is radical and fearless and personally disinter- 
ested. He has fought upon the popular side against 
all waves of reaction, including the ones led by Gam- 
betta, Ferry, and the Boulangists. He has upset more 
governments than any other man in France. His 
record in the Dreyfus affair was one not to be for- 
gotten. He has a real sympathy for the aspirations 
of the people, although he is a strong individualist. A 
man of high education and cultivation, he is one of the 
most formidable debaters in the French chamber; and 
his skilful phrase, epigrammatic sentence, and burning 
satire make him feared by those who find themselves 
in opposition. His high individualist idealism, together 
with a deep-rooted cynicism, lends to his political views 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 239 

a complexity which is the despair of opponents. He 
is the kind of man the genial, idealistic Jaures might 
be expected to fear, but again and again these two 
extraordinary men cross swords in battle- 
When the radicals came into power early in 1907, it 
seemed a necessity to the logical French mind clearly to 
define the difference in policy between the radicals and 
the socialists. The ministry was nominally under the 
control of Sarrien, although really completely in the 
hands of Clemenceau ; and between the latter and 
Jaures there occurred a significant debate upon funda- 
mental social and political principles. For the first 
time in the political life of Clemenceau he faced an 
opposition with views more extreme than his own, and 
he taunted the socialists with being a party of negation, 
destruction, and violence. He defied Jaures to pro- 
duce anything constructive in their policy. In answer 
Jaures delivered what is perhaps the clearest state- 
ment that has yet been made in any parliament of the 
constructive ideas of socialism, and for that reason it 
deserves special and extended consideration in this 
place. It was the intention of Jaures to make an 
authoritative declaration and as far as possible to ex- 
press the views of the international party, and he, there- 
fore, quoted decisions made in party council, and the 
views of the chief leaders. Consequently it can be 
considered not only as the deliberate statement of an 
eminent leader of one of the largest national parties 
in Europe, but also in the main as the view of the 
international movement. 

In the first part of his address he gave a hurried 
sketch of what he thought would be the main outlines 
of the new social order under socialism, and he prom- 



240 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ised, if the chamber would give him time, to place 
before it a more comprehensive and detailed plan of 
the legislation which would bring about the transition, 
and the main institutions which would exist under 
socialism. As the new social order would have to 
evolve out of present-day society it would have to be 
largely influenced by national institutions, and for this 
reason the first part of his address applies particularly 
to France. Passing, however, from this consideration, 
he endeavored to answer the question whether or not 
the socialist order would be established by the con- 
fiscation of capitalist property. 

Jaures confessed that he could not foretell with any 
certainty what would take place. " It is not because 
my own thought on this question is uncertain or hesi- 
tating/' he said. " It is because in these matters pro- 
grams, even when they are clearly determined and 
deliberately planned, are subordinate to the force of 
events. You have had a proof of this during the 
great French Revolution, which began with decrees 
of expropriation with compensation, with the thought 
of purchasing most of the feudal rights ; and which 
afterward, carried away and exasperated by the 
struggle, proceeded to that expropriation without in- 
demnity. And you now see, gentlemen, at this hour, 
a similar crisis at the other end of Europe. There 
is there a great gathering, the first national gathering 
of the Russian people, which is studying the means of 
giving the land to the peasants by large expropriations. 
The leading parties of that assembly propose to give 
compensation for the large private estates which will 
be expropriated. Gentlemen, it will not depend upon 
them whether they can bind the future to this scheme. 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 24 1 

It will be realized if freedom is established there by 
legal evolution ; but if the government blindly resist, 
there will be risings and rebellions, and it is likely that 
the expropriations will be carried out in a very different 
manner. 

" That is the reservation I wanted to make, and for 
my part I have no pretension of laying down in advance 
conditions to the working-class, to the world of labor. 
I know, and I declare, that the rights of labor are sov- 
ereign, and I shall assist with all my heart, and with all 
my mind, in any effort necessary to establish a new 
society. But I have the right before parliament, before 
the working-class, to assume the hypothesis of a legal 
transformation of a regular and peaceful evolution ; 
for I ardently wish that such a consummation may be 
realized, and toward its realization I will work, we will 
all work, my friends and I, with all our strength, for a 
policy of democratic reforms which will increase the 
legal power and regular means of action of the working- 
class. 

" It is with this thought, with this hope, that I invoke 
the authority, freely admitted by our reason, of all the 
great socialist theorists who have advised, in various 
ways and in the interest of the social revolution itself, 
expropriation with compensation. It was Marx who, 
according to Engels, uttered these words: 'It will 
still be, if we can proceed by compensation, the cheap- 
est way to achieve the revolution/ He meant that by 
this means it would not be necessary to suspend for 
one moment the productive activity of the country. 
Kautsky, in his commentary on the socialist program 
of Erfurt, said, ■ Expropriation does not necessarily 
mean spoliation. ' Our friend Vandervelde has spoken 



242 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

in the same sense, and I ask of the House permission to 
read the powerful and beautiful declaration of Lieb- 
knecht : — 

" l Social democracy is the party of the whole people, 
with the exception of two hundred thousand great and 
small proprietors, capitalists, and priests. It ought 
then to turn toward the people and, as soon as occasion 
offers, by practical proposals and projects of legislation 
of general interest, to give positive proof that the good 
of the people is its only aim, and the will of the people 
its only rule. It must follow the path of legislation 
without doing violence to any one, but with a firm 
purpose and unerring aim. Even those who now enjoy 
privileges and monopolies ought to be made to under- 
stand that we do not propose any violent or sudden 
measures against those whose position is now sanc- 
tioned by law, and that we are determined, in the 
interest of a peaceful and quiet evolution, to bring 
about the transition from legal injustice to legal justice, 
with the utmost consideration for the individuals who 
are now privileged persons. We recognize that it would 
be unjust to hold those who are now privileged by the 
sanction of bad legislation personally responsible for 
that bad legislation and to punish them personally. 
We declare expressly that in our opinion it is the duty 
of the state to give an indemnity to those whose in- 
terests will be damaged by the necessary abolition of 
laws which are detrimental to the common good in so 
far as this indemnity is consistent with the interests of 
all. We have a higher conception of the duty of the 
state toward the individual than our adversaries, and we 
will not lower it, even if we are dealing with our adver- 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 243 

Following this statement of the views of the leading 
socialists as to the method the party would pursue in 
establishing the new order, Jaures declared that society- 
had reached a stage of development wherein it was no 
longer of public utility for it to be divided into two 
classes, the one possessing all the means of production, 
and the other unable to make use of its labor except on 
conditions which the first class was willing to concede. 
He showed that the efforts of some radicals to estab- 
lish compulsory arbitration would not affect this an- 
tagonism; that the present civil war only shows itself 
on the surface by means of strikes, but is going on 
at other times as well. It is at the very bottom of 
the present system of society, of a system of property 
which gives power to one class and inflicts obedience 
on the other. This economic civil war will continue, 
now apparent, now hidden, now loud, now silent; but 
ever with the same sufferings, the same exaspera- 
tions, so long as the world of production is divided 
into two antagonistic camps. He admitted that there 
were means of softening the shocks, but he declared 
that this permanent fundamental antagonism results 
from the very privilege of property, and can never 
be entirely prevented until the capital necessary to 
social labor is absorbed by the workers. " There must 
be but one directive force," he said ; " namely, the crea- 
tive force of labor." 

Considering, therefore, that the greatest public neces- 
sity at the present moment was to harmonize the 
relations between capital and labor by making them one 
in power and direction, Jaures answered the assertion 
that if this were accomplished by compensation, there 
would still exist some rich and some poor and, therefore, 



244 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

a class antagonism, by saying that the bonds of com- 
pensation given to the holders of capital at the time 
of expropriation would be limited in their power by the 
very nature of the new society. At the present time 
title-deeds and bonds enable their holders either to 
purchase the means of production and of profit, such as 
factories, buildings, shares, etc., or else to purchase 
products for consumption. In the new society, when 
capital shall have been socialized, when the community 
shall have put at the disposal of the organized workers 
the means of production, the bonds of compensation 
which will be given to the former capitalists will not 
enable them to purchase further means of production ; 
they will only enable them to purchase the products of 
labor. Illustrating this argument, he said that when the 
law abolished slavery and compensated slave-owners, 
the latter were not able to use their compensation for 
the purchase of new slaves, and when capitalist prop- 
erty shall have been socialized, the holders of compen- 
sation deeds will not be able to purchase either fresh 
means of production or producers. " Thus, gentlemen," 
he said, "to those who put forward the objection that 
if, when expropriating capital, compensation is not given, 
it is sheer robbery, and, if it is, capitalism will be recon- 
stituted, I reply that between the title-deeds of socialized 
society and those of capitalist society there is this fun- 
damental difference : that the latter are means of domi- 
nation and exploitation, which are constantly renewed 
at the expense of human labor by the play of interest 
and profit, whereas the others will only be means of 
consumption and will exhaust themselves by degrees, 
leaving labor unhampered and organized/' 

Jaures then declared that whatever the judgment of 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 245 

his opponents might be as to the wisdom of the socialist 
order, they must nevertheless admit that they were in 
the presence of doctrines that offered a precise and defi- 
nite solution of the present antagonism between labor 
and capital. And he further declared that, having 
stated the socialist position, the socialist party had a 
right to demand of " the party of democracy and prog- 
ress " what its doctrine was. 

" What can you do ? " Jaures demanded. " What can 
you republicans and radicals do to liberate and organize 
labor ? " He then showed that Clemenceau and all the 
radicals had for over twenty years criticised the existing 
order with the same severity as the socialists, and that 
even Clemenceau had once signed a manifesto declaring 
that "whoever is not a socialist is not a republican. " 
This conscious stirring up of class strife, he said, was 
wicked and immoral unless those doing it had also at 
the same time some means for remedying the evil. " It 
is a great mistake to discredit in the eyes of the workers 
a system which you do not know how to abolish. While 
you were in opposition, it was perhaps natural that your 
attitude should be critical; but now," he continued, "you 
are not only in power, you are the power, not only in 
appearance, not only in part, but by the simultaneous 
arrival of a government whose members are radicals 
and of a radical-socialist majority. You have full power 
and therefore full responsibility. I ask you then : What 
are you going to do ? " Taking up the radical program, 
he showed its inconsistencies and fundamental weak- 
ness. They had sent representatives to the Hague to 
support any proposition for the limitation of military 
expenditure, and they had begun their government by 
an increase in that expenditure. They had said nothing 



246 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

on the question of railways, and in passing upon some 
new mining laws, they had not attempted to insure to 
the workers better conditions or a higher reward for 
their labor. He traced this weakness to the fear of the 
government lest a policy which should be in the slightest 
degree positive in these matters would frighten investors 
and alarm the stock exchange. 

Clemenceau, answering Jaures, stated that he and the 
cabinet were in entire agreement with the socialists in 
nearly all of their practical program. In his opinion 
the socialists and the radicals could move together for 
some time upon the lines of their immediate program, 
and that ought to suffice. But he condemned the larger 
scheme of socialization, which he said would only pro- 
duce a disastrous catastrophe if it were attempted to 
put it into operation suddenly. " Here is a list of M. 
Jaures' immediately realizable reforms," he said. " An 
eight-hours day, the right of state employees to com- 
bine, national insurance against unemployment and 
sickness, a progressive income tax and death duties, the 
return to the nation of the monopolies, and propor- 
tional representation. Why, that is a horribly bourgeois 
program, and when M. Jaures asked me, 'What is your 
program ?" I could scarcely refrain from answering at 
once, ' My program ? Why, it is in your pocket. You 
have picked it from mine.' " 

But Clemenceau's old individualist views forced him 
in opposition to Jaures with regard to strikes. " I hold 
that every man who wants work," he said, " has the right 
to ask society and the public powers to protect him in 
the exercise of that right." The government must use 
its power to put down violence and to maintain order. 

Jaures, in his reply, showed the difference between 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 247 

the position of the capitalists and that of the workers. 
" What you mean by the maintenance of order," he 
said, " is the repression of all excesses on the part of 
the workers, while admitting violence on the part of the 
employers. You forget the difference between the con- 
dition of laborers and employers. Yes ; violence is 
gross, visible, when used by the workers. A threaten- 
ing gesture, a brutal act; they are seen and noted. 
Their author can be promptly dragged before judges, 
and dealt with. But how about the employers ? They 
have no need to indulge in violent language, in gestures. 
Their violence can be carried out in orderly fashion. 
A few men meet in private, in full security, like an or- 
derly board meeting, around a table. And, like diplo- 
matists, without violence, without shouting, without 
gestures, they calmly decide that a reasonable wage 
shall be refused. They decide that those workers who 
keep up the fight shall be excluded ; that by some secret 
sign in their work-book they shall be known to all em- 
ployers, — that they shall be marked men. That is the 
silent method; it is the murderous engine which has 
caught the unfortunate victim and silently crushes him, 
without any grating noise in the machinery. 

"When it is sought to fix personal responsibility in 
any trouble, the same difference is seen. The work- 
man's share is easily fixed ; any violent act is soon 
brought home and punished. But when it comes to the 
responsibilities of the masters, in such a case as the 
Courrieres disaster (a terrible mining disaster which 
killed 1500 men), then difficulties arise. Their responsi- 
bilities are wrapped up in the complications of anonymous 
capital, of limited liability companies. There are subtle 
evasions which can defeat the ends of justice. An 



248 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

engineer can say that although men were sent down into 
the mine when it was known to be on fire, according to 
chemical and theoretical discoveries there was no reason 
to fear the danger which, as events proved, existed. 
And thus, while the workman's violence is ever appar- 
ent, palpable, and easily repressed, the deep and mur- 
derous responsibility of the great employers, of the 
great capitalists, ever disappears in obscurity." 

Aside from the really fundamental differences be- 
tween the two parliamentary groups, Jaures agreed that 
there was something in common in their immediate pro- 
grams, and he assured the radicals that the socialists 
would give them every assistance in carrying out their 
program of reforms. " If you are in earnest," he de- 
clared, "in your desire to nationalize railways and 
mines, and to carry out reforms, let it be clearly stated, 
and you will have our support. No reform will be 
wrecked by our opposition, but while our method is that 
of peaceful reform our goal will ever remain the revolu- 
tion ; namely, the complete transformation of the present 
social system." 

I once heard Jaures speaking to an audience of per- 
haps 7000 people. In that immense hall he seemed a 
different man from the one I knew in the chamber. 
His voice had the power of a great organ, with endless 
changes of tone and expression, with modulations with- 
out limit and with a sustained emphasis and climax that 
seemed to me as extraordinary as anything I had ever 
heard. His finished oration had the roundness and 
perfection of a poem. On another occasion I heard 
him speaking to the men of the street. His power in 
this instance was again of quite a different character. 
He became a mob orator equal to John Burns in his 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 249 

best days. The influence he exercised over his audi- 
ence was such that if he had desired to lead this crowd 
of men to storm the streets of Paris, I think not one 
would have failed to follow him. 

In the chamber Jaures is clever and adroit. For 
nearly twenty years he has been in the midst of every 
important parliamentary crisis. He knows the secret 
of parliamentary influence, and he uses his knowledge 
of parliamentary tactics and his skill as a debater in a 
manner that attracts and fascinates the whole of Paris. 
When it is known that Jaures is to speak, the galleries 
are crowded, and hundreds and sometimes thousands 
beg for admittance. During the last few months his in- 
terpellations have covered a wide range of subjects, and 
in every case he has demonstrated to the public the de- 
sire of the socialists to support the radical ministry in 
all the reforms that it can be induced to carry through. 
At the same time with extraordinary skill he has put 
forward the difference between their programs. 

It is hardly too much to say that Jaures has done 
more during the last twenty years to form political 
thought than any other man in France. His battles 
against the royalists, the Bonapartists, the Liberals, and 
the nationalists, his extraordinary activity during the 
Dreyfus affair, and his exceptional power in harmoniz- 
ing the new socialist views with all the republican tra- 
ditions and freedom-loving aspirations of the French 
people, have given him a personal power and a following 
that are not equalled by those of any other man in the 
French chamber. As long as he had to battle with out 
and out reaction his position was comparatively easy, 
but at present he faces a more subtle form of opposi- 
tion. As was said, the present government is the most 



250 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

radical that France has known in recent years, and when 
Clemenceau, late in 1906, took the place of Sarrien at the 
head of the ministry, the first utterances of the cabinet 
were so advanced that it seemed as if the radicals had 
taken over everything except the revolutionary proposals 
of modern socialism. The cabinet declared for the 
separation of the church and state, the suppression of 
martial law, the abolition of the dangers of the white 
lead industry, the nationalization of the Western railways, 
the strict enforcement of the law providing one day's 
rest each week, and finally for old-age pensions and a 
graduated income tax. Besides, Clemenceau invited 
three socialists to take positions in the cabinet. Mille- 
rand refused, but Briand and Viviani both accepted re- 
sponsible posts. It would be difficult to convey an idea 
of the popular enthusiasm that prevailed in Paris over 
the announcement of the program and the composition 
of the new ministry. However, the situation seemed 
critical for the socialist party, for, if the program were 
carried out, and if the ministry were fearless and uncom- 
promising in its support of the working-class, the social- 
ist party might have been forced into a position where 
it would have been impossible for the people to distin- 
guish between its work and that of the radicals. 

It would be difficult, however, to imagine how any 
party could have met the situation better than the social- 
ist party. Without expressing confidence in the minis- 
try it definitely held that it would support all reforms of 
a truly fundamental character. In the chamber the so- 
cialists have pursued a most skilful course. They have 
forced the fighting. The ministry has been prodded 
and goaded. Its program, which now it almost wishes 
to forget, is placed before its eyes and those of the 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 25 I 

country on every possible occasion. Unlike most op- 
position parties the socialists want to keep the radical 
ministry in power, and on one or two occasions it would 
have fallen if it had not been for their support and as- 
sistance. They take a long view, and see that nothing 
is so important at the present moment as to prove to the 
French people that the radicals will not carry out a pro- 
gram of fundamental reform. Thus it is necessary to 
keep them for a considerable period in a position of re- 
sponsibility so that they may be tested in the most thor- 
ough and conclusive manner. 

So long as radicals are always in the opposition (as, for 
instance, Hearst and Bryan are with us) they appear ak 
most as revolutionary as the socialists themselves. But 
now that the French socialists are fortunate enough to 
have them in power, it only remains to demonstrate the 
impossibility of their accomplishing any important re- 
form. In other words, it seems as if the French people 
are being conducted through the last stage of their illu- 
sions. When it is once proved that the radicals will not 
carry out their promises, it seems reasonable to think 
that the people will turn to the socialists. Even now 
the party is beginning to expose the barren record of 
radicalism. Le Soeialiste asks, " Where are we now ? 
The suppression of martial law ? Mutilated. The 
law about white lead ? Stillborn. The nationalization 
of the Western railways ? In danger. The law about 
Sunday closing ? Nerveless and weak. Old-age pen- 
sions ? Adjourned. Graduated income tax ? Proposed. 
But so absorbed are the radicals in fighting the working 
men that they cannot spare the time or effort to trans- 
form the proposition into an act." 

If the radicals can be kept in power for a few months 



252 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

more, and if they fail, as they have failed up to the pres- 
ent, to carry out a single one of their proposed eco- 
nomic reforms, it would seem probable that the socialist 
party alone can hope to win the adherence of an actual 
majority of the French people. The situation in France, 
from the point of view of the parliamentary power of 
socialism, is, therefore, at the present moment the most 
dramatic in Europe. 

In giving so much prominence to the parliamentary 
power of socialism in Germany, Italy, England, and 
France, I do not want to convey the impression that it 
is limited to, or of exceptional importance in, those 
countries. Vandervelde is at work in Belgium, Victor 
Adler in Austria, and other men of ability are at work 
in nearly all the other parliaments of Europe. Their 
strife against the established order is similar in charac- 
ter to that of the socialists in the countries I have men- 
tioned. They influence the thought of their countrymen 
to no less a degree, and in some cases they have accom- 
plished more for the welfare of the masses than the 
socialists of France, Italy, or England. And yet nearly 
everywhere the socialist parties have only a small minor- 
ity in parliament, as the reader will see from the table on 
the opposite page. In Austria and Finland at the mo- 
ment the socialists have the largest representation, and in 
Russia, if the electoral law permitted, they would easily 
obtain a majority. In the countries under review in 
this book, the tactics and the immediate ends of the 
party vary in many details from those in Russia and 
other countries. What I have given of the parlia- 
mentary effort of the socialists in certain countries is, 
therefore, not necessarily typical of their work in the 
others. The duties of a party are necessarily deter- 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 



253 



mined by the state of economic, political, intellectual, 
and moral development that exists in its particular 
field of action. 



*Russia .... 132 


socialists out of total of 440 


representatives 


Austria . 






87 


a a 


353 


tt 


Finland . 






80 


tt tt 


200 


tt 


France 






52 


a a 


584 


n 


Germany 






• 43 


a tt 


397 


a 


England . 






32 


it tt 


670 


tt 


fBelgium . 






30 


a a 


166 


tt 


Italy . . 






25 


u a 


508 


u 


f Denmark 






24 


tt tt 


114 


a 


Sweden . 






15 


a tt 


230 


tt 


Norway . 






10 


tt tt 


117 


it 


Holland 






7 


ii St 


100 


tt 


Luxemburg 






7 


tt a 


45 


<t 


Switzerland 




2 


a a 


167 


tt 


Servia . . . 




1 


a it 


160 


a 


"547 


a a 


4251 


a 



* This is the representation of the socialists in the second Duma, and not in the 
present one. The electoral law has been changed in such a wholesale manner that 
nearly all the workers and peasants have been disfranchised. If there had been uni- 
versal manhood suffrage, a much larger number would have been elected. Nearly all the 
socialist members of the second Duma have recently been sent to Siberia. 

| In Belgium the Labor Party has also seven representatives in the Senate, and in 
Denmark the socialists have four. 



A new phase of international unity and solidarity 
begins to manifest itself that should not pass unmen- 
tioned. Of the numberless parties in the various 
countries the socialists alone seek to bring the national 
organizations into international accord. They have, 
therefore, decided to create an interparliamentary union 
for the purpose of conference, and in case of necessity, 
of joint action. The first congress of this body was 
held in London in July, 1906. Very little notice was 



254 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

taken of the meeting, although nearly every European 
parliament was represented by one or more delegates. 
Three days were spent in this interparliamentary con- 
ference, which it was decided should be secret because a 
representative of the Duma,,Anakme, had come to place 
before the congress the desperate situation that faced 
the Russian socialists. I shall never forget the inten- 
sity of that memorable gathering while listening to the 
impassioned address of the Russian peasant. He was a 
gifted speaker, and although strong and fearless, he had 
the saddest face I have ever seen. In the course of 
his address, he said he had come to London despite his 
belief that upon his return to Russia he would be impris- 
oned or perhaps secretly murdered. On the day follow- 
ing the congress the representatives spent the afternoon 
on the estate of a sympathetic Englishman. Tchay- 
kovsky, now in prison in Russia, was there with Ana- 
kine. As we drove along the lovely lanes, and looked 
upon the smiling hills of Surrey and Kent, and walked 
through Chaucer's Pilgrims' Way, the sadness and 
brooding melancholy of this Russian peasant's face cast 
a gloom over us all, and for weeks afterward it haunted 
me. His parliamentary duties called him back to Rus- 
sia immediately, and a few days later we saw in the 
papers that he had hardly landed from the boat in Fin- 
land before he was set upon and beaten into insensibil- 
ity by a band of thugs employed by the police. 

I realize in terminating this chapter that some of my 
readers may conclude that the socialists have abandoned 
their revolutionary aims and have settled down to a 
.peaceful policy of gradually reforming the present or- 
der ; but if they do arrive at such a conclusion, it will 
show an utter misconception of socialist political tactics. 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 255 

Socialists have no desire to pursue the desperate method 
of inciting the workers to insurrection. They realize that 
violence is a sign of weakness. Increasing influence, 
and a growing assurance that socialism will eventually 
attain complete power, have encouraged them to work 
with confidence toward the end of converting a majority 
of the nation to their views. In parliament they never 
lose sight of that end, and Liebknecht well says, "All 
legislative measures which we shall support, if the op- 
portunity is given us, ought to have for their object to 
prove the fitness of socialism to serve the common good." 
Following out that policy, the socialists are zealous pro- 
moters of every humane measure that can advance the 
welfare of the community. Whatever will increase the 
opportunities of working men for education, whatever 
will give them leisure to read and study, whatever will 
assure them health and pleasant surroundings at home 
and at work, the socialists exert their utmost to obtain. 
A humane interest in the welfare of all inspires these 
legislative efforts ; but the reader must not forget that 
in this work the socialists have also a special and revolu- 
tionary end in view. They are confident that when the 
workers free themselves from the conditions which now 
brutalize them, and when they gain sufficient leisure to 
read and think, there will come as an inevitable result a 
more consistent and intelligent revolt against the op- 
pressive conditions of capitalism. At the same time 
anything which raises the standard of life, morality, and 
mentality of the workers makes them increasingly fit to 
assume complete control over industry. 

This work of ameliorating conditions is supplemented 
by other efforts equally revolutionary in their aim. In 
every country the socialists are endeavoring to win for 



256 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the political organizations, the unions, and the coopera- 
tives, greater powers of resistance. Toward this end 
they have already obtained in many countries additional 
political rights, such as an extension of suffrage and the 
right of free speech and assembly. For the unions they 
have endeavored everywhere to obtain, or to preserve 
from reaction, the right of combination, of striking, and 
of peaceful picketing. They have rendered it increas- 
ingly perilous for the government to interfere in indus- 
trial disputes by the use of the army and the police. 
For centuries the state has favored the interests of prop- 
erty as against the interests of the workers, but slowly 
the new governing principle evolves ; namely, that in the 
conflicts between labor and capital the state shall as 
nearly as possible maintain an attitude of neutrality. 
The result of all this socialist activity is the gradual 
breaking down of political and economic oppression, and 
the placing in the hands of the workers the means of 
their own emancipation. 

This forcing up of the standard of life, and this win- 
ning of economic and political power, when viewed from 
the socialist standpoint, are essentially revolutionary 
in their tendency. They are determined efforts to 
strengthen the workers in their struggle against capitalism. 
A clergyman recently condemned socialism because, as 
he said, it looks upon humanity as a god. A prominent 
socialist answered, " That is at least a higher ideal than 
the one possessed by present society, which looks upon 
property as a god." There is truth in both assertions, 
and they roughly explain the basis of the conflict now 
being waged between capital and labor. It is a war 
a outrance between two ideals, and there is evidence to 
show that property as a divinity is losing much of its 



SOCIALISM IN THE PARLIAMENTS 257 

former prestige. Its influence over the masses is no 
longer what it once was, and when the opponents of 
socialism come before a propertyless populace, claiming 
to be the guardians of private property, and seek their 
suffrages on that ground, it creates as little enthusiasm 
as did the old plea of the divine right of kings at the 
time the rising democracy put an end to autocracy. 

And yet that is the claim now being made by the 
radicals in France and the liberals in England. All 
private property is to them a sacred thing, an unalterable, 
unchangeable institution ; and to speak of its evolving 
from age to age, changing its form and scope to fit itself 
to the requirements of social evolution, is sacrilegious. 
Of course socialism attacks only one form of private 
property, as the abolitionists attacked only one ; that is, 
the private ownership of the instruments of production. 
But that, of course, makes socialism none the less sub- 
versive, and the capitalists, realizing the danger, try to 
defend private property categorically, even when it is 
most injurious to the public welfare. Rooted in the 
belief that private property must be maintained at all 
hazards, they cannot evolve from their own thought any 
method of ameliorating the social and industrial evils 
which result from the domination of the propertied inter- 
ests. Nevertheless, they are terrified by the growing 
power of socialism, and finding compromise a necessity, 
they weakly borrow the immediate program of their 
opponents. Thus Campbell-Bannerman in England, 
Clemenceau in France, von Buelow in Germany, and 
other government leaders, find the only political course 
open to them is to adopt a socialistic legislative policy. 
It is unquestionable that by so doing they alleviate 
somewhat the misery, and for a time diminish the dis- 



258 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

content ; but their action is in deadly conflict with their 
political and economic faith. They thus leave them- 
selves and their followers without principles, and their 
parliamentary policy degenerates into a petty struggle 
to save what they can in the face of an aggressive 
opposition. 



CHAPTER IX 

SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 

Although, as we have seen, modern socialism is of 
very recent growth, one can already clearly discern two 
distinct periods in what may be called the literature of 
socialism. The first period was a heroic one, corre- 
sponding nicely with the unorganized and not always 
intelligent revolt of the working-classes previous to the 
eighties. Nearly all the great minds in art and litera- 
ture, consciously or unconsciously, translated into their 
work the spirit of unrest and blind revolt characteristic 
of the time. Wagner in music ; Millet in painting ; 
Turgueneff, Grigorovitch, Nekrassoff, Tolstoy, Hugo, 
Zola, Herwegh, Freiligrath, Whitman, Carlyle, and 
Ruskin in literature, to mention only a few, were all 
expressing in varied form the widespread discontent 
with the existing social order. Matthew Arnold, simi- 
larly engaged in his keenly intellectual and passion- 
less essays, summed up his complaint in the powerful 
sentence, " Our inequality materializes our upper class, 
vulgarizes our middle class, brutalizes our lower class." 
Ruskin came to the conclusion that "all social evils 
and religious errors arise out of the pillage of the 
laborers by the idlers." And in 1871 he began 
to write " Fors " — letters to the workmen of Great 
Britain — by declaring : " For my own part, I will put 
up with this state of things, passively, not an hour 

259 



260 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

longer. I am not an unselfish person, nor an evangel- 
ical one ; I have no particular pleasure in doing good ; 
neither do I dislike doing it so much as to expect to be 
rewarded for it in another world. But I simply cannot 
paint, nor read, nor look at minerals, nor do anything 
else that I like, and the very light of the morning sky, 
when there is any — which is seldom, nowadays, near 
London — has become hateful to me, because of the 
misery that I know of, and see signs of, where I know 
it not, which no imagination can interpret too bitterly. ,, 
Carlyle could not think of modern society without 
bursting into rage. The disorganization of labor; the 
spectacle of society covering the fair face of England 
with filthy furnaces and boundless slums; the silly 
commonplaces of political economy, which he called 
"the dismal science"; the anarchy in industry and 
commerce, led him to write his bitter political satires 
that seethe with brimstone and fire. Hugo, in France, 
was writing his immense drama of modern society, 
picturing the life of that outcast saint whom the modern 
world could not understand, and perforce must crucify. 
Whitman, in America, was singing his great songs of 
Democracy. Tolstoy was writing two novels : one pic- 
turing the horrors of war, the other the foibles and 
vanities of Russian society. Turgueneff was watching 
the rising revolt among the masses, and becoming 
almost a guiding force in its progress by his pitiless 
analysis of the character of its leaders. It would be 
difficult to find in any other period of recent history 
men equal in power to these master minds, all of them 
struggling to voice the rising revolt, and yet incapable 
of discerning or of adequately expressing the new ideal- 
ism coming to birth. 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 26 1 

Amidst the storms then raging over Europe there 
was something magnificent in the Titanic labors of 
these men. Analyzing the warring elements, describ- 
ing the discord, lamenting the carnage, they sought 
for some guiding principle, but in vain ; they could only 
voice the spirit of their restless, questioning, dissatisfied 
age. They were the prophets, rather than the teachers, 
of the new time of which they saw but the dawn. " I 
know not if I deserve," said Heine, " that a laurel- wreath 
should one day be laid on my coffin. Poetry, dearly as 
I have loved it, has always been to me but a divine 
plaything. I have never attached any great value to 
poetical fame ; and I trouble myself very little whether 
people praise my verses or blame them. But lay on 
my coffin a sword ; for I was a brave soldier in the 
Liberation War of humanity." The same wish might 
have been expressed by all these men, for without ex- 
ception they placed higher than their art their work in 
the service of humanity. 

It is not a mere coincidence that during the same 
period another group of great minds was trying to 
form an International Working Men's Association. 
Marx, Engels, Bakounine, de Paepe, Mazzini, Pro- 
fessor Beesley, were all minds of a high order, and 
all were connected with the International at some 
time in its history. It represented in active life what 
the other group represented in art and literature. Both 
groups felt instinctively the modern revolt; both saw 
the evils of our economic system ; both recoiled from 
the anarchy in society, the bitter poverty of the many, 
the arrogant dominance of the few. But the Interna- 
tionalists, like the artists and writers, could arrive at no 
common program; and, after a few years of troubled 



262 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

existence, their organization broke into dissension and 
discord, which was also characteristic of the time. With 
the exception of Marx and Engels, much of the spirit 
of the International was destructive and nihilist rather 
than constructive and creative, with the result that it 
merely incited the masses to blind and futile revolt 
instead of organized and constructive action. The fact 
is, all these men were living in the eventide of a great 
historical epoch. It was Carlyle who voiced the vague, 
despondent spirit of these forerunners of modern social- 
ism when he said, " There must be a new world if there 
is to be any at all." 

The eighties mark a new period in the literature as 
well as in the politics of socialism. There began to 
appear at that time in all the countries of Europe a new 
force. There was the same revolt against the anarchy 
of society, against poverty and riches, but with it there 
came a master passion which differed fundamentally 
from the vague democratic yearnings of the older men. 
Carlyle, as well as the others, had noticed the growing 
proletariat, but he no more than they understood the 
historic role they were destined to play. Arnold said: 
" Our present social organization has been an appointed 
stage in our growth ; it has been of good use, and has 
enabled us to do great things. But the use is at an end, 
and the stage is over." Nearly all the older men were 
of a similar view. They felt that society was on the 
eve of new developments, but of these their thought 
was vague and uncertain. In general their attitude was 
destructive and negative ; more in accord with Bakounine 
than with Marx, who was coming to be the dominant 
spirit in the rising movement. 

Socialism was beginning to manifest itself in definite 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 263 

form in Germany, in France, in Belgium, and even in 
England. It was no longer a mere revolt, and as an or- 
ganized and disciplined movement it began to play an 
important r61e in the political life of Europe. It was 
hardly to be expected that the older men would fully 
understand the new movement, and it was but natural 
that in the main it was the younger men in literature 
and art who gave it expression. In any case nothing 
could be more remarkable than the rapid change follow- 
ing the seventies. After the vague democratic yearn- 
ings and the purely destructive criticism of the older 
generation, succeeded a gospel that dominated men of 
widely different talents ; as, for instance : William Morris, 
Anatole France, Bernard Shaw, Maurice Maeterlinck, 
Alexander Kielland, Maxim Gorky, H. G. Wells, Gio- 
vanni Verga, Gerhart Hauptmann, Edmondo de Amicis; 
the scientists, Alfred Russel Wallace, Zanarelli, Lom- 
broso, Grant Allen, Enrico Ferri; the poets, Giovanni 
Pascoli, Ada Negri, Edward Carpenter ; and the artists, 
Walter Crane, Steinlen, and van Biesbroeck. Like the 
older men they too are in revolt. And yet that which 
had begun to take place among the disinherited, and to 
assume definite and constructive form, found these and 
other men of talent ready to give it expression in paint- 
ing, in sculpture, in music, and in literature.* 

* It is a matter for regret that I can merely mention the socialist poets 
Edward Carpenter, of England; Graf, Guerrini, and Pascoli of Italy; and 
Mrs. Roland Holtz, of Holland, whose poems are frequently printed in so- 
cialist papers as the songs of the movement. Nor can I more than mention 
Maurice Maeterlinck, John Galsworthy, Granville Barker, and Richard White- 
ing, and the artists who make possible such first-rate comical and satirical 
socialist journals as " L'Assiette au Beurre," " L'Asino," and " Der Wahre 
Jacob." Walter Crane, the English, and Steinlen, Grandjouan, Delannoy, 
and Naudin, the French artists, lavish their great talents upon socialist 



264 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Whether we take the work of the forerunners of modern 
socialism, or that of the present exponents, we find the 
same methods used to interpret the social spirit. Both 
depict the life of the peasant and the industrial worker, 
interpreting the soul of the people in its patient and 
quiet dignity. Both portray the evils of modern society 
by problem plays and novels. Both struggle to give ex- 
pression to the quest for the ideal whether in the indi- 
vidual or in social organization. And nearly all the 
writers leave at times the field of art to issue revolution- 
ary pamphlets upon economics and politics. 

Perhaps the highest social use of literature is in awak- 
ening a sympathetic understanding between different 
races or different classes of the same race. In the days 
of slavery, when whites looked upon blacks almost as 
beasts devoid of human sentiment, the work of Harriet 
Beecher Stowe proved a revelation, and aroused in all 
civilized countries profound human sympathy. What- 
ever defects it may have as a work of art, " Uncle 
Tom's Cabin " made the thought of slavery intolerable. 
It has always been easy for men to believe that they dif- 
fer from other men, and that color, race, or nationality, 

propaganda. In the expository literature of socialism, the Fabian tracts 
and essays rank high. Bernard Shaw's work stands out from among the 
others, and perhaps no other modern writer is capable of treating econom- 
ics in so interesting a manner. Anatole France's " Monsieur Bergeret 
a Paris," and H. G. Wells' "The Misery of Boots," are pure literature; 
and while the work of Robert Blatchford is largely of a propagandist 
nature, he is richly endowed with that greatest gift of the artist, the 
power of seeing things and of making others see them. 

Many well-known American writers and artists also feel the so- 
cialist impulse. William Dean Ho wells, Edwin Markham, Finley Peter 
Dunne, Jack London, and Upton Sinclair are among the best known, 
although nearly all of the younger men are coming under the influence 
of socialist thought. 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 265 

religion, blood, or riches, almost any distinctive thing, 
separates them from the rest of human kind, and creates 
a gulf between what they are pleased to call superior 
and inferior people. Between races such feelings are 
more easily explained ; although when such books are 
read as Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk," unfortu- 
nately too little known, the feeling of superiority is apt 
to give place to a humiliating sense of shame. But 
among people of the same race such feeling is less 
readily understood; and yet it is almost as common. 
The slaves of our country were of a different race from 
their masters ; but the serfs of Russia were of the same 
race and creed, the same language and tradition, as the 
upper class. And yet Kropotkin says : " Human feel- 
ings were not recognized, not even suspected in serfs, 
and when Turgueneff published his little story of ' Mumu/ 
and Grigorovitch began to issue his thrilling novels, in 
which he made his readers weep over the misfortunes 
of serfs, it was to a great number of persons a startling 
revelation. ' They love just as we do ; is it possible ? ' 
exclaimed the sentimental ladies.' ' 

A similar effort to that of the above-mentioned writers 
is made by those who endeavor to picture the suffering 
grandeur of the toiling masses of field or factory. To 
two Belgians, one a painter, the other a sculptor, we are 
indebted for some of the most affecting pictures of misery 
that art has given us. Charles Degroux belongs to the 
earlier period, but his pictures serve even to-day to mould 
socialist sentiment. His canvases are tragic. His 
figures are broken by the burdens of misery, and a spirit 
of brooding sorrow and inevitable misfortune pervades 
his work. The other Belgian, van Biesbroeck, is a 
young man, who after achieving an excellent reputation 



266 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

throughout Europe came back to his native town of 
Ghent at the request of the socialists. They have built 
him and his father a studio, and assure to them what 
they require ; and these two work together to make 
beautiful the various cooperative establishments owned 
by the socialists. The older van Biesbroeck is a philos- 
opher ; the younger, an artist of exceptional talent. His 
portraits of the workers of Ghent will become historic, 
representing to future ages the barbarism of modern in- 
dustrial society. His men, women, and children labor 
and mourn. They are superb figures, forcibly drawn, 
wonderfully chiselled, with the power to evoke precious 
and inexpressible emotions of sympathy and comrade- 
ship. Resembling Degroux in some ways, van Bies- 
broeck understands better the heart, and knows how to 
interpret in human terms the meaning of all the crushing 
burdens borne by those who labor. You see sympathy 
in all his work, — the sympathy almost of a mother for 
her child; and yet how powerful the lines, how firm 
and sturdy the figures. 

Millet and Meunier have, of course, done an even 
greater work in picturing the soul of the people. They 
meet humanity at a higher level than Degroux or even 
van Biesbroeck, and yet it is not often possible to find 
in their work the same sympathy that pervades the 
work of the latter. Millet sometimes painted a brutish 
form without intelligence or spirituality, such as " The 
Man with the Hoe"; but his greatest work was to inter- 
pret the peasant full of elemental, primordial force. 
To see the superb action of "The Sower," the quiet 
power and skill of " The Man spreading Manure," to 
come across that lovely landscape with "The Glean- 
ers " at work in the foreground, to grasp the infinite 



. . i 



' The Dock Laborer," by Meunier. 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 267 

sweetness of those uncertain " First Steps," and the 
glorious spirit of paternity expressed in the affectionate 
outstretched arms of the father, or to incline the head 
with those two fine figures in "The Angelus," is to come 
at one mighty sweep into perfect sympathy with these 
patient bearers of life's burdens. 

Meunier in sculpture did for the industrial workers 
what Millet in painting did for the peasant. Labor had 
a strange and overpowering fascination for Meunier, 
and he used to sit for hours in wonder and admiration, 
watching the turmoil of the docks in Antwerp. In the 
black country he would lose himself in a mass of miners 
rushing home from their work or watch at night su- 
perb figures before the flaring furnaces. In Meunier's 
sketches one is given some idea of how black and sinis- 
ter he conceived modern industry to be, and at times his 
work is pervaded with a pathos that almost unnerves one ; 
but the feeling is rarely dominant. He sometimes saw 
among the workers of Belgium a spent toiler, but none 
the less superb. I know of nothing in sculpture that 
seems to me more god-like than the head which he 
calls "Antwerp," symbolizing Labor; for that is what 
Antwerp meant to him. It is quiet, yet it breathes of 
action. There is not that refinement of the Greek 
which shows softness and weakness ; there is no super- 
fluous flesh. It is the face of a conqueror obeying a 
cosmic instinct ; the symbol of the indomitable spirit of 
Labor which creates from the raw materials of hill and 
valley the necessary products of civilized life. Most of 
Meunier's work was devoted to portraits of peasants, 
miners, puddlers, glass workers, dockers, and laborers.* 

*A striking tribute has recently been paid Meunier by the dockers of 
Genoa, who have purchased his " Le Debardeur " from their union funds. 



268 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

It was the faithful effort to picture the lives of the men, 
women, and children of toil. The best examples of his 
art are in Brussels, and nowhere could they be more 
appropriately found or their teaching be more necessary. 
Belgium is the workshop of Europe, and it is well to 
have there these figures typifying Labor the Conqueror, 
a prophecy of what shall one day arrive. 

Grigorovitch and Turgueneff did much to acquaint the 
intellectuals of Russia with peasant life, and Gorky, 
during the last ten years, has done remarkable work in 
the same direction. Gorky is a rebel; not as many 
writers are, in the library only. He is an active, con- 
spiring revolutionist ; in the open when possible, under- 
ground when necessary. When you have once seen 
Gorky, you understand the source of his power. His 
eyes — they make one think of high-power searchlights 
— have a force of vision which penetrates into the inner 
meaning of things. Life cannot deceive Gorky, and if 
one reads " Malva," "Tchelkache," the "Ex-men," or 
" Twenty-six and One," — those searching short stories in 
which Gorky is at his best, — and thinks them overdrawn, 
he does not know the life of the abyss. Gorky's tramps 
and outcasts are never completely lost or vanquished. 
They too are idealists and rebels, as are most Russians 
of the working-class. Although too broken in body 
to be effective, there is hardly one whose spirit is 
unworthy of our admiration. His pictures of lodging- 
house and slum, of factory and tenement, are no less 
wonderful than those appealing landscapes which so 
often form the background in his masterly pictures 
of Russian life. In his plays and novels even the 
most miserable of his characters have the instincts 
of man and the fire of rebellion. As with Meunier, 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 269 

one always feels when reading Gorky that however ad- 
verse the conditions, and however terrible the oppres- 
sion, the spirit of man is unconquerable. 

It is to Giovanni Verga that we must go to find 
pictures of Italian life comparable to those that Gorky 
has drawn of Russian life. In "The House by the 
Medlar Tree " we are shown the lowest misery, that of a 
Sicilian village. With powerful realism and infinite 
detail Verga portrays the peasants, the fisher folk, the 
toilers crushed under their burdens, and the vanquished 
wrecks; and above these unfortunates, the political, 
social, and religious parasites that prey upon ignorance 
and helplessness. In " Master Don Gesualdo " he 
pictures the middle-class provincial ; in " The Duchess 
of Leyra," the silly vanities of the upper class; in a 
later book, the political corruption and petty intrigue so 
prevalent in Italian life ; and at last he personifies in 
" The Man of Lusso " all the social and political vices 
that are crushing the Italian people. He is powerful, 
but his lines are often hard and his realism without 
grace. In some respects he is more like Zola than 
Gorky, for his sordid, ghastly pictures of misery are too 
often unaccompanied with that sympathy which one 
notes in the work of all Russians. 

Matilde Serao and Ada Negri are two remarkable 
Italian women, — one a novelist, the other a poet, — 
both expressing the same revolt and picturing, each in 
her own effective way, the evils of modern society. 
Matilde Serao's " II Ventre di Napoli," say the authors of 
" Italy To-day," is " a passionate appeal, straight from a 
woman's heart, to the rulers of Italy, pleading that no 
mere t gutting ' of Naples by a few new streets can avail 
aught in healing the terrible social and economic miseries 



270 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

of her people. Few books move the reader more than 
this little volume of a hundred pages, telling of the 
moral and physical diseases that lie festering beneath 
the fair sky and picturesque beauty of this metropolis 
of the South — the gross, half-pagan superstition, the 
universal lust for gambling, the poverty, the squalor; 
yet withal a people of quick intelligence, patient of toil, 
naturally gentle, with an inbred love of music and 
color. Let those who attempt to indulge a facile indig- 
nation at the more obvious vices and darker features of 
Neapolitan life turn to the last chapter of this book, and 
learn somewhat of the exquisite refinement of its charity, 
the inexhaustible springs of human pity and neigh- 
borly love, that sweeten the lives of this much-maligned 
people, and make up a daily martyrdom of incalculable 
self-sacrifice." 

Ada Negri is a product of the poor, and her bread 
was earned in one of the most miserable of Italian 
professions, that of schoolmistress. Her mother was a 
factory hand, and she never knew her father. In the 
early nineties there first appeared some of her extraordi- 
nary poems. To quote again, " It is difficult to give the 
reader who is unfamiliar with the originals an adequate 
conception of the concentrated passion, the nervous 
energy, that quiver in every fibre of this frail, solitary 
daughter of the people athirst for love and social justice 
and beauty. Wielding a lash that seems knotted with 
scorn, she scourges the dominant classes of society. . . . 
As she broods over her fate, the pale figure of Ill-fortune 
by her bedside claims her, yet bids her remember that 
the sun of glory illumines those who labor in blood and 
tears ; that sorrow gives wings to the ideal ; that victory 
is for those who have brave hearts and fight on. An 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 27 1 

1 enigma of hatred and love/ she weeps with pity for the 
ill-fed in her class of eighty children ; she cannot look 
upon a poor, ragged, shoeless street arab, and think of 
his probable fate, without yearning to clasp him to her 
breast in a supreme embrace of pity and sorrow. She 
hears the infinite hordes of toilers advancing with a 
noise of thunder, in serried ranks, bareheaded, with 
fevered eyes ; from fireless hearths and sleepless beds, 
from alley and hovel, they press upon her ; she feels 
their hoarse breath on her cheeks. She gives the pity 
they ask, but mingles it with fierce indignation. In 
' Tempeste' she tells of the sacrifice and tragedies of the 
poor — the workless, the ejected, the dead and wounded 
of the mine, the victims of machinery." 

In contrast to the work of this fiery and bitter Italian 
is that exquisite little story of Anatole France — " Crain- 
quebille." It is one of the masterpieces of modern 
literature, this story of a Parisian pushcart pedler. To 
come close to the emotions agitating this poor soul, to 
realize how little the busy turmoil of to-day takes account 
of its simple wonder, to see its hope and pride crushed 
by the brutal methods of police administration, is to 
awaken in a new and powerful way to the almost uni- 
versal and ruthless disregard for the weak and defence- 
less. As we go through this simple annal we feel a 
growing sense of comradeship with the old man, and we 
realize that all about us, in the poorest and meanest of 
these human souls that touch our elbows, there exists 
something that is infinitely sweet and precious. By the 
side of " Crainquebille " belongs that prose poem of Leo 
Tolstoy/' Where Love is, there God is also/' the story of 
Martuin Avdyeitch, the sweet old shoemaker living in 
his cellar-dwelling — • a story which takes us for a pre- 



.2/2 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

cious and peaceful half-hour among homely and simple 
lives that the world knows not. 

Closely related to the portrayal of these types of the 
people is the work of the various writers who have 
interpreted the leaders of the revolt. The two novels, 
"Tragic Comedians " and "Vittoria," by George Mere- 
dith, centre about the lives of Ferdinand Lassalle and 
Mazzini. Both leaders of revolutionary movements, 
they become to Meredith material for two extraordinary 
psychological and social studies. And yet, interesting 
as they are, they hardly rank with the monumental work 
of Turgueneff, the Russian. Turgueneff was a revolu- 
tionist, who in his youth assisted Herzen in editing a 
revolutionary paper, and who through his entire life 
was the standard-bearer of Liberal Russia, "He never 
preaches any doctrine whatever," says Stepniak, " but 
gives us, with an unimpeachable, artistic objectiveness, 
the living men and women in whom certain ideas, doc- 
trines, and aspirations were embodied. And he never 
evolves these ideas and doctrines from his inner con- 
sciousness, but takes them from real life, catching with 
his unfailing artistic instinct an incipient movement just 
at the moment when it was to become a historic feature 
of the time. Thus his novels are a sort of artistic 
epitome of the intellectual history of modern Russia, 
and also a powerful instrument of her intellectual prog- 
ress." 

In six great novels Turgueneff traces in a series of 
types the intellectual currents running through Russian 
life from the forties through the seventies. Rudin, one 
of his most striking characters, is a man of the forties, 
under the ferocious despotism of Nicholas I. He is 
fascinating from the moment you meet him, and amazes 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 273 

all by his intellectual audacity. His eloquence, range 
of knowledge, and popular sympathies arouse the en- 
thusiasm of all who know him. But that is the end. 
Brilliant and fertile in intellect, he is altogether barren 
in action. He is an intellectual vagrant, turning from 
one thing to another, incapable of anything useful or 
practical. At the end, hungry, homeless, and friendless, 
he dies on the barricades in Paris, during the revolu- 
tion of 1848. In a second volume, "The Nobleman's 
Retreat," we have Lavretsky, who has the idealism of 
Rudin with will-power added ; but his plans for practical 
activity are shattered by an unfriendly environment 
and a hapless marriage. In his next volume, " On the 
Eve," published 1859, he develops in "Helen" a true 
type of the Russian young woman then beginning to 
join in all the movements for Russian freedom. Kro- 
potkin says, " She is the woman who conquered her right 
to knowledge, totally reformed the education of chil- 
dren, fought for the liberation of the toiling masses, 
endured unbroken in the snows and jails of Siberia, 
died if necessary on the scaffold, and at the present 
moment continues with unabating energy the same 
struggle." 

In the next novel, "Fathers and Sons," published 
1862, we have the nihilist type in Bazaroff, perhaps the 
strongest character in Turgueneff's novels. He is 
rough, fearless, absolutely sincere, denying all author- 
ity, and accepting nothing unproved. He is rationalist 
and revolutionist. The skilful artistic contrast which 
Turgueneff works into the book in the person of the 
smug, brainless Peter Petrovitch is dramatic. The 
latter represents all that Bazaroff detests ; the foolish 
vanities of life, silly superstition, personal elegance, 



2/4 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

conformity to all conventions. A storm of protest 
greeted the appearance of this powerful novel. The 
youth whose type Turgueneff was seeking to portray 
in Bazaroff were indignant, and thought they saw a 
desire to caricature their ideal. But despite the rude- 
ness of Bazaroff, Turgueneff loved him for his truth, 
sincerity, and courage, and the indignation of the 
advanced young liberals so affected Turgueneff that 
he contemplated for a time giving up literature alto- 
gether. In his next novel, "Smoke," written in 1867, 
he voices a spirit of despair, and pictures the hollow 
vanities of the handful of bureaucratic despots then 
ruling the destinies of the mighty Russian empire. 
In " Virgin Soil," the last of the series, he pictures 
that extraordinary movement of the seventies, " To the 
People." The Russian youth of intellect and con- 
science were at the time casting aside all thought of 
personal advancement, social position, and ease, to 
carry the revolutionary propaganda into the villages 
of Russia. The historic circle Tchaykovsky was then 
meeting in St. Petersburg, with Kropotkin, Stepniak, 
and a host of other brilliant and capable young men 
and women, all of whom are now dead or in exile. 
The series is one of the most remarkable in literature, 
picturing from decade to decade the variation in the 
revolutionary ferment, and serving in no inconsiderable 
degree to teach the new generation saner lines of ac- 
tion and nobler paths of sacrifice. 

Much of the literature and art of socialism is devoted 
to the portrayal of the evils of society. The individual 
seems lost amid the play of social forces, while the 
crushing power of evil conditions is shown in all its 
magnitude. There are factory hells and slums, social 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 275 

vices and hideous industrial wrongs, which ruin and 
destroy what is good and precious in man. Among 
present-day writers perhaps no one has equalled Emile 
Zola in describing the devastating power of these re- 
lentless inevitable social forces. However much he 
may at times revolt us, we must admit that Zola at- 
tempted a laudable and gigantic task in the twenty 
volumes published under the general title, " Rougon 
Macquart. ,, He could not tolerate the silly romanti- 
cism of the empire, and he determined to picture with 
pitiless realism the whole of contemporary society. In 
these volumes the life of all France passes before the 
reader. The descriptions of the vile degradations into 
which man falls are terribly realistic, and embrace a 
record of modern life so revolting as almost to choke 
and stifle one. In " L' Assommoir " Zola takes us into 
the depths, among intoxicated wrecks and hopeless 
outcasts. He leaves no vice unspoken, no horror un- 
describedf In " Germinal " we have a picture of the 
mines, and the movement of dark forms in the bowels 
of the earth as they struggle toward the light. Fol- 
lowing this great series, Zola wrote three volumes, 
" Lourdes," " Rome," and " Paris," to show the decay 
of superstition and the rise of rationalism. In the latter 
he seemed to have lost confidence in any efforts for the 
regeneration of society, except the destructive attempts 
of the anarchists and the constructive work of science. 
Not content with picturing life as he saw it, he then 
wrote four gospels to convey to the world his idea of 
social salvation, the last volume remaining unfinished 
at his death. One of the four is " Le Travail," and in 
that he finds his inspiration. Labor, — the God of 
humanity ; the glorious creator ; the serene power that 



276 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

shapes the destiny of man, — he finds joyless, unknown, 
degraded, enslaved, crucified. It must be resurrected, 
and made free, and holy, and joyful, and beautiful. 
And he traces the outlines of a new social order arising 
through the associated efforts of the workers. 

There is much that is similar to the work of Zola in 
the writings of nearly all of the younger men of our 
generation. The literature of social problems repre- 
sents perhaps the main current in the literary effort 
of the last twenty years. Realism is in full swing 
throughout Europe. In the Balkan States there is a 
school of writers, several of whom have Zola's vivid 
descriptive power, combined with a reverential regard 
for the spiritual character of man that reminds one of 
Millet. Nearly all the younger men work with a 
conscious social purpose, and they see more clearly 
than Zola did through the bewildering chaos of con- 
temporary life. Many of them owe their impulse 
directly to the socialist movement, and labor to ac- 
centuate in art the inspiration that comes from social 
democracy. Among the most noteworthy of the writers 
of the north is Alexander Kielland, the Norwegian. 
He closely approaches Zola in " The Laboring People," 
and in " Elsie " and in other short stories and novels 
he gives evidence of possessing a profound social 
philosophy. 

Among Englishmen, the late George Gissing ap- 
proached the realism of the Frenchman. He says in 
one of his novels : " Art nowadays must be the mouth- 
piece of misery, for misery is the keynote of modern 
life." In one powerful story, " New Grub Street," he 
traces the slow ruin by overwork, hunger, and care, of 
every sweet and ineffable gift of spiritual and artistic 




Group by van Biesbroeck in Socialist Cemetery. Ghent. 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 277 

power. " The Odd Woman " is a tragedy that describes 
the poverty of helpless, unnecessary odd women, — women 
the world has no place for, unnecessarily born, unneces- 
sarily reared, without husbands, without duties, women 
whom the world passes by without a thought of their 
pitiless struggle for bread. "The Nether World" is 
like one of Degroux's paintings : it is all black misery ; 
gaunt starvation ; ruin of spirit, mind, body ; slums, 
abysses. A terrible book, with no glint of light, no 
rift in the clouds ; which stares out of its pages at you 
like that grim and frightful " Melancholia" of Albrecht 
Durer. 

In connection with this type of literature one should 
not fail to mention two Russians who have accomplished 
a definite and important work. Tolstoy in " War and 
Peace" has done in literature what Vereschagin has 
done in art. Vereschagin is the Herve of Russia, 
preaching to the whole nation the revolutionary views 
of the anti-militarist. He could not speak or write his 
views, or form a political party to carry them out, so he 
gave them to the world in paint. The effect exercised 
by these two anti-militarists upon Russia " was already 
apparent," Kropotkin says, " during the great Turkish 
war of 1 8 77- 1 8 78, when it was absolutely impossible to 
find in Russia a correspondent who would have described 
how ' we have peppered the enemy with grapeshot,' or 
how 'we shot them down like ninepins.' If a man 
could have been found to use in his letters such survi- 
vals of savagery, no paper would have dared to print 
them." 

In portraying the evils of modern society, perhaps no 
writers have done a more effective work than the dram- 
atists. Hermann Sudermann's "Die Ehre," " Sodoms 



278 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Ende," and " Heimat," the latter well known in Amer- 
ica as " Magda," are all militant dramatic protests and 
strong social satires. Young Sudermann and his con- 
temporary, Gerhart Hauptmann, were the leaders of a 
new movement in German literature which voiced the 
democratic revolt and socialist idealism of the German 
youth during the eighties and nineties. " The Weavers " 
of Hauptmann is perhaps the most powerful socialist 
drama that has been written. It is a sombre picture of 
a people crushed by toil and driven to revolt by misery 
and hunger, ending in a bloody struggle between the 
soldiery and the starving workmen. 

Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, is a psychologist 
rather than a sociologist, battling against sophistry, 
hypocrisy, and mistaken ideals. Even in his so-called 
social dramas, "The League of Youth, " "The Pillars of 
Society/' etc., he is far more interested in individual 
than in social pathology. Again and again he pictures 
the individual restive under the restrictions of modern 
society, and in revolt against the slavery of some modern 
conventionality. With considerable feeling he once 
expressed the gist of his philosophy in the following 
words : " Liberty, equality, and fraternity are no longer 
the same things that they were in the days of the 
blessed guillotine; but it is just this that the politicians 
will not understand, and that is why I hate them. 
These people only desire partial revolutions, — revolu- 
tions in externals, in politics. But these are mere trifles. 
There is only one thing that avails — to revolutionize 
people's minds." In carrying out this program Ibsen 
waged a veritable warfare upon philistinism. He con- 
ceived his most necessary work to be of a destructive 
character with the bias of an anarchist, which he once 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 279 

confessed himself to be in a letter to George Brandes, 
the Danish critic. He is the avowed representative of 
the Bazaroffs that Turgueneff presents so powerfully in 
" Fathers and Sons." 

It is unnecessary to say that Bernard Shaw, the 
British dramatist, is a socialist, who purposely uses his 
art for propaganda purposes. He employs the drama 
for social and political ends as the church once did for 
moral and religious ends. For destroying what seems 
to him false and evil in present society his method is 
sometimes that of the anarchist, and John Tanner in 
" Man and Superman " personifies this attitude toward 
life. Realizing the necessity for some destruction, some 
clearing away of old ideas and institutions before new 
ideas and institutions can take their place, Shaw is often 
purely destructive, and to the casual reader this may 
seem his entire aim. But a careful reading of his novels 
and dramas, lectures, criticisms of art and literature, will 
give proof of his constructive purpose. He can resist 
the tendency so little that he prefaces all his dramas to 
make his point clear, and — to slip between the covers 
a socialist tract. 

Many of Shaw's admirers fail to grasp the funda- 
mental purpose underneath his work, mainly, I think, 
for the reason that wit is so rarely found among social 
reformers and idealists. He is too often considered 
merely a man of literary fancy and conceit, fond of 
trifling with the world's great movements, and jeering 
at cherished ideals and ancient beliefs. But in all his 
novels, which were written in the early eighties when 
most of his time was spent in propaganda for the 
socialist movement, and in his plays, which have been 
written during the last ten years, a definite social phi- 



2 SO SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

losophy manifests itself. "John Bull's Other Island" 
is a political tract on the Irish question, and " Widow- 
ers' Houses" shows, as Shaw himself says, " middle- 
class respectability and younger son gentility, fattening 
on the poverty of the slum." " Mrs. Warren's Profes- 
sion" deals with the problem of wage-earning women 
under modern economic conditions, and attempts to 
prove, to use Shaw's own words again, that "any so- 
ciety which desires to found itself on a high standard 
of integrity of character in its units should organize 
itself in such a fashion as to make it possible too for 
all men and all women to maintain themselves in rea- 
sonable comfort by their industry without selling their 
affections and their convictions. At present we con- 
demn women as a sex to attach themselves to ' bread- 
winners,' licitly or illicitly, on pain of heavy privation 
and disadvantage." "Man and Superman," "Major 
Barbara," and " The Doctor's Dilemma " have a broader 
social outlook. They embrace Shaw's acute criticisms 
of modern life and the elements of his constructive 
social philosophy. As Holbrook Jackson says, what 
Shaw "has aimed at doing for the English stage is 
what Ibsen, Tolstoy, Strindberg, Brieux, and others 
have done for the European stage; that is, to inaugu- 
rate a problem drama of modern ideas, to exhibit dra- 
matically the vital part of human beings struggling 
against things and conditions." 

"The Perfect Wagnerite," one of Shaw's most brill- 
iant critical essays, performs a double service, in ena- 
bling him to show the revolutionary sympathies of the 
great musician, and at the same time to portray in a 
masterly manner the vices of capitalism. "The Ring," 
Shaw explains, was begun immediately after Wagner 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 28 1 

escaped to Switzerland, following the German revolu- 
tion of 1849. His sympathy for the poor led him to 
participate in their battle against the rich and the 
wrong, along with his friend Auguste Roeckel, and 
Michael Bakounine, the famous apostle of revolution- 
ary anarchism. Wagner's "Art and Revolution/' 
which was also written in Switzerland, shows how 
thoroughly the socialist side of the German uprising 
had his sympathy ; and for three years he spent much 
of his time pamphleteering on social questions. 

According to Shaw, " The Ring," with all its gods, 
giants, and dwarfs, its water maidens and valkyries, its 
wishing cap, magic ring, and miraculous treasure, is a 
dream of to-day, symbolizing the struggle for gold and 
power. Wotan represents monarchy, and Loki (the 
lie) assists him, with all the logic and imagination of an 
ordinary corporation attorney, in trying to maintain his 
power. His wife Frika represents law, constitutions, 
and other inflexible things, while Siegfried signifies the 
coming of man. As Shaw says, it is pretended that 
there are as yet no men on the earth. There are giants, 
dwarfs, and gods, and he warns us against the danger 
of imagining that the gods are of a higher order than 
the human. This he says is not at all true. Man must 
come to redeem the world from the lame and cramped 
government of the gods. 

In the first opera, " The Rhine Gold," we find Alberic, 
a dwarf, endeavoring to rob the Rhine-maidens of 
their treasure. He is the typical capitalist, and after he 
once obtains the power which gold gives, " hordes 
of his fellow-creatures are thenceforth," says Shaw, 
"condemned to slave miserably, overground and 
underground, lashed to their work by the invisible 



282 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

whip of starvation. They never see him any more 
than the victims of our ' dangerous trades ' ever 
see the shareholders whose power is nevertheless 
everywhere, driving them to destruction. The very 
wealth they create with their labor becomes an addi- 
tional force to impoverish them; for as fast as they 
make it it slips from their hands into the hands of their 
master and makes him mightier than ever." But when 
Alberic becomes the possessor of all this wealth, others 
more important than he by tradition endeavor to rob 
him of it ; and all the rest of the opera, and the two that 
follow, are taken up with an undignified and bitter 
struggle for the gold. Finally Siegfried, representing 
in Shaw's mind not socialism but anarchism, comes to 
make an end of the gods. 

He calls Siegfried a young Bakounine, and says that 
while anarchism as a panacea is just as hopeless as any 
other panacea, and will be so even if we breed a race of 
perfectly benevolent men, nevertheless in the sphere of 
thought anarchism is a necessary preliminary to progress. 
Anarchism represents the revolt against authority no 
matter what force and tradition it may have behind it. 
It is, therefore, to Shaw's mind, a critical faculty essential 
to intellectual progress. But he says Anarchism "will 
not be replaced by Anarchism. As to the industrial or 
political machinery of society, Anarchism there must 
always reduce itself speedily to absurdity. Even the 
modified form of Anarchy on which modern civilization 
is based, that is, the abandonment of industry, in the 
name of individual liberty, to the upshot of competi- 
tion for personal gain between private capitalists, is a 
disastrous failure, and is, by the mere necessities of the 
case, giving way to ordered Socialism. For the eco- 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 283 

nomic rationale of this," Shaw dryly adds, " I must refer 
disciples of Siegfried to a tract from my hand pub- 
lished by the Fabian Society and entitled ' The Impos- 
sibilities of Anarchism.' " 

Whether or not Wagner ever reached in his own 
mind a further stage than that represented by anarchism, 
Shaw does not indicate, but he does tell us that Wagner, 
like Shelley in " Prometheus Unbound," ends his great 
drama with rapturous loving strains that have no par- 
ticular social significance. As a matter of fact, Wagner 
began "The Ring" when intensely sympathetic to the 
revolutionary cause, and ended it at a period when the 
passion of the dramatist, artist, and musician was upper- 
most. The cycle, therefore, represents infinitely more of 
the spirit of revolt at the beginning than at the end, 
which is, of course, true also of Wagner's life. " The 
Perfect Wagnerite " is interesting not only in itself, 
but also because it is typical of Shaw. Whether he 
works as a novelist, dramatist, musical or literary 
critic, he never forgets the passion of his life, which is 
socialism. 

William Morris deserves a first place in the Litera- 
ture of Socialism. It must have been a surprise to 
his friends when in 1883 he became a militant mem- 
ber of the party. The superficial observer of this 
poet and craftsman during the seventies could hardly 
have imagined the change that was to come. Few 
men have led a life more completely given over to 
culture. As he himself said, he was " the idle singer 
of an empty day." The titles of his books indicate 
how remote was Morris's thought from all that is 
modern. After "The Earthly Paradise," he wrote the 
story of the Golden Fleece, called "The Life and 



284 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Death of Jason," which gave him a foremost position 
among English poets. He saturated himself with the 
mythologies of Greece, Persia, and the North, and his 
translations of the Icelandic Sagas, Virgil's " yEneid," 
and the Epic of Sigurd were the poetic harvests of 
these early years. 

When not engaged in literature, Morris carried on 
a stupendous work, endeavoring to reinstate domestic 
decoration as one of the fine arts. With a group of 
poets and artists, including Burne-Jones, Dante Ga- 
briel Rossetti, and Philip Webb, he lavished labor and 
love in erecting a really beautiful house in the suburbs 
of London. In the course of his labors, he recreated 
the mediaeval arts and handicrafts, including painted 
windows, mural decoration, furniture, metal and glass- 
ware, paper and cloth wall hangings, painted tiles, 
jewellery, printed cottons, woven and knitted carpets, 
silk damasks, and tapestries. From the household arts 
he went to bookmaking, and reestablished as an art 
printing, illustration, and illumination. There were sev- 
eral indications, it is said, that when he " plunged into 
politics he was on the brink of a new departure in the 
field of romance. One may even conjecture the path 
it would have taken, as the heroic cycle of Iran had 
long held in his mind a place next to those of Greece 
and Scandinavia." 

But the socialist movement came to claim him, and 
during the early eighties Morris had no thought for the 
passions of his former years. He was in the street, 
leading the unemployed, speaking in Hyde Park, lec- 
turing in little out-of-the-way holes in London, distrib- 
uting hand-bills in front of lecture halls, and selling 
socialist tracts to the audiences. During this period he 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 285 

produced little of artistic or literary value, although he 
wrote chants for the movement, and assisted in editing 
two socialist journals. When his passion for an im- 
mediate revolution gave way to a saner outlook upon 
life, he began the " Dream of John Ball,'' one of the 
finest romances in our language. 

In this book Morris goes back to the England of the 
fourteenth century, which he knew so well and loved 
so fervently, to grasp the hand of John Ball, the leader of 
the peasants' revolt. The peasants are rising all over 
the country, and are on the way to London to demand a 
declaration of freedom from the king. Morris repre- 
sents himself as the voice of the future, and after 
watching a hard battle between the masters and the 
men, he and John Ball spend an entire night in con- 
versation in the choir-stalls of an exquisite little Gothic 
church. Ball is the type of the impassioned idealist 
who thinks he is attacking a root evil, and that when 
the serfs are freed, misery will have been banished from 
the earth. He tries to learn from Morris whether or 
not his project will succeed, and what will befall the 
people in the time to come. 

There is something of anguish in the answers of 
Morris as he outlines to John Ball the increase of 
misery and wretchedness which shall come during the 
next five hundred years, until the climax is reached in 
the middle of the nineteenth century. He tells of the 
days when the landlords will force the peasants from 
the fields, enclose the commons, and confiscate the 
lands. He pictures the abject misery of the workers 
who must sell themselves day by day for leave to labor. 
He pictures the coming of the machines when one man 
shall do the work of a hundred men, yea of a thousand 



286 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

or more ; and he says : " I tell thee many men shall be 
as poor and wretched always, year by year, as they are 
with thee when there is famine in the land ; nor shall 
any have plenty and surety of livelihood save those 
that shall sit by and look on while others labor." 

" Now am I sorrier than thou hast yet made me," 
said John Ball; "for when once this is established, 
how then can it be changed ? . . . Woe's me, brother, 
for thy sad and weary foretelling ! And yet saidst 
thou that the men of those days would seek a remedy. 
Canst thou yet tell me, brother, what that remedy shall 
be, lest the sun rise upon me made hopeless by thy 
tale of what is to be ? And, lo you, soon shall she 
rise upon the earth. ,, 

" In truth the dawn was widening now, and the 
colors coming into the pictures on wall and in win- 
dow; and as well as I could see through the varied 
glazing of these last (and one window before me had 
as yet nothing but white glass in it), the ruddy glow, 
which had but so little a while quite died out in the 
west, was now beginning to gather in the east ; — the 
new day was beginning. I looked at the poppy that I 
still carried in my hand, and it seemed to me to have 
withered and dwindled. I felt anxious to speak to my 
companion and tell him much, and withal I felt that I 
must hasten, or for some reason or other I should be 
too late ; so I spoke at last loud and hurriedly : — 

"'John Ball, be of good cheer; for once more thou 
knowest, as I know, that the Fellowship of Men shall 
endure, however many tribulations it may have to wear 
through. Look you, a while ago was the light bright 
about us ; but it was because of the moon, and the 
night was deep notwithstanding, and when the moon- 




'The Glass-worker," by Meunien 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 287 

light waned and died and there was but a little glimmer 
in place of the bright light, yet was the world glad be- 
cause all things knew that the glimmer was of day and 
not of night. Lo you, an image of the times to betide 
the hope of the Fellowship of Men. Yet, forsooth, it 
may well be that this bright day of summer which is 
now dawning upon us is no image of the beginning of 
the day that shall be ; but rather shall that day-dawn 
be cold and gray and surly ; and yet by its light shall 
men see things as they verily are, and no longer en- 
chanted by the gleam of the moon and the glamour 
of the dreamtide. By such gray light shall wise men 
and valiant souls see the remedy, and deal with it, a 
real thing that may be touched and handled, and no 
glory of the heavens to be worshipped from afar off. 
And what shall it be, as I told thee before, save that 
men shall be determined to be free ; yea, free as thou 
wouldst have them, when thine hope rises the highest, 
and thou art thinking not of the king's uncles, and poll- 
groat bailiffs, and the villeinage of Essex, but of the 
end of all, when men shall have the fruits of the earth 
and the fruits of their toil thereon, without money and 
without price.' " 

There are too many beautiful and precious things in 
literature for one to say lightly that this or that is most 
lovely ; and yet I cannot go far astray when I put in my 
Golden Treasury that handgrasp of sympathy and fellow- 
ship which reaches out through a long night of dreary 
centuries and unites in comradeship these two great 
souls. 

Morris realized, and meant to show in " John Ball," 
that the development of society was an evolutionary pro- 
cess, and that no man could mould it to his ideal. In 



288 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

writing, therefore, his " News from Nowhere " he had 
no intention of picturing a definite social order that 
might be brought into being by the conscious effort of 
the socialist movement. As a matter of fact, Morris 
wrote " News from Nowhere " as a retort to the machine- 
like Utopia of Edward Bellamy. Loving labor, he did not 
want to be freed from it, and he could not tolerate the 
thought of a civilization founded upon bell-buttons and 
automatic machines. It was his ideal that all work 
should be worth doing, and be in itself pleasurable. 
He says, " It is right and necessary that all men should 
have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of 
itself pleasant to do ; and which should be done under 
such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome 
nor over-anxious." This claim is the basis of all his 
socialism. "To feel," as he says, "that we were doing 
work useful to others and pleasant to ourselves, and that 
such work and its due reward could not fail us ! What 
serious harm could happen to us then ? " " News from 
Nowhere " is the dream of a society based upon that 
claim. 

H. G. Wells has also ventured into the realm of 
socialist anticipation, but in " A Modern Utopia " he 
does not attempt to plan a future society. His book 
is really a series of Utopian speculations based upon the 
scientific achievement of to-day, and a vision of the 
enormous possibilities for human development in a 
society in which thought and labor shall be dominated 
by the passion for human welfare. Anatole France, 
in " Sur la Pierre Blanche," pictures a society arising 
out of the socialist movement now growing in strength 
and acquiring power in all the countries of Europe. 
In this story an international group of parliamentary 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 289 

socialists begin to exercise toward the end of the 
twentieth century an enormous influence upon the 
various governments, with the result that, after a period 
of terrible warfare over the colonizing policy of the 
capitalist regime, war is finally through the power of the 
socialists rendered impossible. Capitalism, having de- 
veloped gigantic trusts, finds itself incapable of manag- 
ing the great forces of production, and, incited by greed, 
its economic warfare leads to a series of convulsions and 
disasters. This accentuates the class struggle, and a 
period of chaos ensues, until at last socialism emerges 
triumphant. Socialist republics are established in all the 
European countries, and their delegates, assembled at 
Brussels, proclaim the United States of Europe. 

This Utopia is compressed into about sixty pages. 
There is no effort to plan in detail a new society, and on 
the whole it resembles the work of H. G. Wells, except 
that the Utopian speculation upon the progress of sci- 
ence is more definite. Flying machines and wireless 
telegraphy have abolished the frontiers ; agriculture is a 
department of chemistry; architecture is the highest 
developed art, as it is the most useful ; in education there 
is no more necessity for studying theology and law ; and 
wireless telegraphy has done away with the need for 
police. Music retains its old power, and in the theatre 
the lyrical replaces comedy and tragedy. Invasion from 
American and Asiatic countries hostile to socialism is 
rendered impossible by a belt of powerful electrical in- 
struments that a boy can set in motion. " Sur la Pierre 
Blanche" is a delightful piece of imaginative writing, 
and incidentally presents in their most attractive form 
the fundamental principles of the modern socialist move- 
ment. 



29O SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Another effort of writers and artists, akin to the 
search for an ideal society, is the quest for the ideal 
adjustment between the individual and society. Tol- 
stoy's ''Resurrection" should be placed under this gen- 
eral heading. Although the whole range of modern 
society is presented in Tolstoy's novel more powerfully 
than in the work of any other Russian, " Resurrection " 
is really the testing of a soul, the story of the evolution 
of the moral and spiritual life in its search for individ- 
ual and social righteousness. It is a storv of the birth, 
the growth, the death, and the resurrection of the spirit 
in a world of torment and anguish. 

A similar work has been done by Fogazzaro in the 
trilogy recently translated into English. The Italian 
has, in a quite remarkable way, shown the evolution 
of the individual soul in its relation to that social en- 
vironment of its time which moulds it from the outside. 
In " The Patriot" we have the beginning of the revolt, 
the young Italian filled with the revolutionary spirit 
of the seventies. "The Sinner" is the story of the 
testing of the individual not yet awakened to definite 
ideals. In "The Saint" the hero, " Piero Maironi," 
wavers between the individualism of Tolstoy, the mo- 
nastic perfection of St. Francis, and the passion for 
social righteousness expressed in the socialist move- 
ment. The series is a notable contribution to the lit- 
erature of socialism, taken either as a quest for the 
ideal individual or the ideal social principles. Without, 
perhaps, a definite intention to be symbolical, Fogazzaro 
has pictured in the first two volumes the spirit of Ital- 
ian life during the seventies, eighties, and early nine- 
ties, — the spirit which I have tried to describe in the 
chapter on Italy. The people, after losing the individ- 



SOCIALISM IN ART AND LITERATURE 29 1 

ualistic ideals of the Mazzinian period, were sunk in the 
vices of political corruption, petty intrigue, and materi- 
alism. In "The Saint " there is an equally symbolical 
picture of the rebirth of the Christian idealism, which 
has been so potent a factor in all the reform periods 
of Italian life, and the rise of socialism. It may be 
that Fogazzaro meant to keep strictly to the method of 
the psychologist and moralist; nevertheless, one finds 
in his work an immense social teaching. He tells the 
story of the evolution of the soul of the Italian people. 
He pictures Italy passing from the heights of the politi- 
cal passion of the earlier period, through the valleys of 
despair and corruption, and then on to the heights of 
the new socialist idealism. 

It is rare to find in modern literature a book so ex- 
quisite, mingling a romanticism so delicate with a real- 
ism so powerful, as " De Kleine Johannes," or "The 
Quest," by Frederik van Eeden. I know of nothing 
in literature more sweetly fantastical. Hovering about 
the infancy of Johannes are fascinating little fairies 
who lead him hither and thither through the world of 
fancy. There is " Windekind," whom he wants to take 
him to the setting sun streaming out of the golden 
cloud-gates. There are the little angels of fancy that 
introduce him into the entrancing world of four- 
footed creatures and of the winged beasts of the air. 
"Wistick" and many other little fairy gods try to 
show him the beauty of all other creatures but man, 
and the exquisite harmony of all other societies except 
the human. And then there is " Pluizer," who takes 
Johannes into the dirty narrow streets of the city, where 
the little strip of blue sky looks only a finger's breadth, 
where children creep over cold floors, and little girls 



292 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

hum melodies to their thin, pale nurslings. Follow- 
ing " Pluizer " comes " Marcus/' a gaunt, wandering 
scissors-grinder, who goes about among circus folk 
and factory hands preaching a kind of Christian so- 
cialism. He takes with him little Johannes, who looks 
upon the wandering missionary as a kind of deity, 
despite his long hair, silly old cap, and frayed-out 
trousers. As they lie one night upon a hard mattress 
in a wayside garret, Johannes falls to weeping over 
the toil, the poverty, and squalor they see and suffer. 
"When I see your shabby clothes and blackened 
hands," sobs Johannes, "when I hear you addressed 
as comrade by these poor and filthy people, when I 
see you sharing their hard and unlovely life, then I 
cannot keep from crying." "It is dreadful," Marcus 
answers, " not on my account, but because of the ne- 
cessity for it." " But how can there be any need of 
your being so plain and sad ? Is there anything good 
in plainness and sadness ? " " No, Johannes; plainness 
and sadness are evils. The beautiful and the joyful 
only are good, and it is they we must seek." 

I do not know what "The Quest" means. It is 
vague and uncertain, as I suppose a quest must be, but 
as a picture of the unrealities we love and of the real- 
ities we hate there is not its like. And yet what a pain- 
ful journey ; with its vague, pervasive longing for some 
certainty, for peace, beauty, and goodness, for kindli- 
ness, for human sympathies, for respect for each other's 
soul and each other's individuality. It is all quest, — 
lonesome, uncertain quest for that hidden ideal, always 
seeming to be in the near future, yet ever evading our 
grasp when we seem to reach it. It is a sorrowful 
tale; and our hearts ache with the little Johannes as 



SOCIALISM IX ART AND LITERATURE 293 

he goes through the big world on this serious business. 
But it helps us to understand the inevitable impulse 
of the ever active brain and the ever yearning heart to 
struggle forward toward the light; a straggle not only 
of the individual, but of masses of individuals. It is 
the sole worthy and important portent of the modern 
socialist movement, of all quests the greatest. 



CHAPTER X 

THE INTERNATIONAL 

Thej.z is a lapse of nearly two thousand years between 
the birth of the first International and the second. 
There are many points of resemblance between the two, 
as without doubt there are profound differences. The 
first, like the second, began among the poor, capturing 
organizations of working men, carrying on its agitation 
wherever there was distress and misery, and raising its 
banner wherever the working men were in revolt. 
It preached a gospel, which in its essence meant liberty, 
equality-, and fraternity. The slaves were among the 
first to accept the new gospel, and wherever they were 
organized in unions the Christians found a welcome. 
One historian says it was at Pergamus, the seat of the 
great uprising of working men under Aristonicus, that 
the Christians built one of their most celebrated 
churches. The people were in the throes of one of 
the bloodiest class conflicts of history. Their power- 
ful trade union had enabled them to keep themselves 
free from slavery ; and the new gospel, preaching the 
equality of workman and master, of slave and slave- 
owner, came to them as a powerful spiritual support in 
the struggle against their oppressors. 

Back of nearly all the uprisings of slaves and work- 
men were the Christian agitators. In this artly, 
Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome, and from 
Rome throughout the empire. Its propagandists went 

2:4 



THE INTERNATIONAL 295 

forth to convert and conquer the world, forming on 
their way new organizations of working men, estab- 
lishing benefit societies, mutualities, and cooperatives. 
They built wherever they went " Houses of the People," 
and preached an economic doctrine akin to modern 
socialism. Lecky says that " Christianity was not 
merely a moral influence. It was also an institution 
definitely, elaborately, and skilfully organized, possess- 
ing a weight and a stability which isolated or undis- 
ciplined teachers could never rival, and evoking, to a 
degree before unexampled in the world, an enthusiastic 
devotion to its corporate welfare, analogous to that of 
the patriot to his country." This is the main reason 
why the governments persecuted the Christians. Then, 
as to-day, there was, according to Lecky, " no principle 
in the imperial policy more stubbornly upheld than the 
suppression of all corporations that might be made the 
nuclei of revolt." One other thing there is in com- 
mon between the old International and that of to-day : 
Wherever the early Christians formed a section of their 
movement they raised, so Osborne Ward says in " The 
Ancient Lowly," the same red flag which has passed 
from revolutionist to revolutionist through all periods 
of history down to the working men of our own time. 

The members of this early International were sub- 
jected to criticisms familiar to our ears. They were 
called " enemies" or " haters of the human race." At 
a time when the general moral standard was very low 
they were charged with deeds so atrocious, Lecky says, 
as to scandalize the most corrupt. They were repre- 
sented as habitually celebrating the most licentious 
orgies, indulging in the worst of evil practices ; and it 
was even steadfastly rumored that they fed on human 



296 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

flesh. Christianity was to the mind of the upper classes 
the same revolt of unchained appetites as that of modern 
socialism; it preached the same dangerous and sub- 
versive doctrines and was led by the same sort of 
irresponsible revolutionists. 

Christmas was once the fete day of labor. It drew 
men, women, and children together to celebrate the 
advent of peace on earth and good-will to men. The 
first of May is the fete day of the modern movement. 
In every city, town, and hamlet where socialists are to be 
found, this May Day is a festival. In Germany, France, 
Italy, Austria, Belgium, Russia, America, and even in 
the Antipodes, millions of workmen assemble. There 
are parades, public meetings, orations, concerts, mani- 
festations, and banquets. As the people meet they 
greet each other as comrades, and before them as they 
march they bear a flag which represents to them a 
higher ideal than that of family, country, or nation — 
the ideal of universal brotherhood and peace on earth. 
Their poets compose songs for the day, and their 
artists paint pictures to celebrate the approaching 
victory of Labor. 

Like the ancient one, this modern movement is not 
a mere spasm of solidarity. Wherever there is a mine, 
a mill, or a factory, there are unions, brotherhoods, and 
other manifestations of this now almost universal or- 
ganization of the workers. Its unions, cooperatives, 
friendly societies, and mutualities are bound together 
in district organizations, in national organizations, and 
finally in international organizations. The membership 
of the unions alone numbers between eight and ten 
million men and women ; a million in France, two mill- 
ion in England, over two million in America, and about 



THE INTERNATIONAL 297 

the same number in Germany. The members of the 
cooperative associations and friendly societies can also 
be numbered by the million ; and the political organi- 
zations of every city, town, and hamlet are organized by 
district and nation into a great international, number- 
ing again about ten million members. If one counts 
women and children, also, the total would approximate 
thirty-five or forty million. Wherever capitalism takes 
root, — in Russia, Japan, and China, as well as with 
us, — this movement follows it ; and no matter what 
method of organization may be chosen at the begin- 
ning, whether it is trade union as in England, cooperative 
as in Belgium, political as in Germany, the complete 
organization of the working-class ends by welding all 
forms of its revolt into one movement, which harmonizes 
its varying methods of conflict. 

This amazing organization of working men is of 
comparatively recent growth, being mainly the work of 
the last half century. Accustomed to change, the 
modern world seems incapable of surprise ; and even 
this miracle of miracles becomes a commonplace. Yet 
only a few decades ago it was a dream, a wild, fanciful 
dream of two lonely men. One of these was a Jew, 
who had been driven from country to country, until 
finally he found shelter and protection amidst a foreign 
population in the Rome of the modern world. He 
was in desperate poverty and sometimes without food. 
Once a political exile, almost as poor as himself, gave 
him money to buy a poor pine coffin for his dead child. 
He was a dreamer who saw, as no one else of his time 
saw, that economic and social evolution, and the march 
of events, would make his dream come true. 

Yet what could have seemed more impossible in 



298 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

1848 than the international organization of working 
men ? It was a year of revolutions. In nearly every 
country of Europe, liberalism, then the political name 
for capitalism, was striking its final blow for victory. 
Fighting under a banner that promised liberty to all, 
it obtained it for itself alone. Liebknecht has said, 
" The German capitalists who now applaud the thought 
of empire, and see in this day the essence of the 
most brilliant diplomatic wisdom in Bismarck's blood 
and iron policy, were fifty years ago, from first to last, 
liberal and democratic, hating militarism, ridiculing 
police rule ; in short opposing everything they venerate, 
or at least deem necessary, to-day/ ' So it was, and is, 
throughout Europe. Nevertheless, in the forties, amidst 
these political upheavals, the working-class bore aloft 
the banner of the Liberals. 

The socialists, as well as all other advanced thinkers, 
looked to liberalism for the salvation of the people. 
The Fourierists, the Cabetists, and St. Simonists were 
forming societies, mostly among the middle class, to 
carry out their ideals. Weitling was at the head of 
a similar movement in Germany. Robert Owen was 
working among the manufacturers of England, en- 
deavoring to persuade them to become the real organ- 
izers of labor, and to reconstruct industrial society 
upon lines offering equal opportunities to all. The 
political socialists of France were endeavoring to 
convert capitalists to the necessity of organizing labor 
through state socialism. Proudhon condemned all 
state action, and urged the working-classes to eman- 
cipate themselves by the cooperative method. With the 
exception of the latter, no one looked upon the workers 
as capable of emancipating themselves. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 299 

The working-class was divided, ignorant, and sunk 
in the depths of misery. The chaos of industry, the 
economic crises, the rapid introduction of new ma- 
chines, had without warning thrown multitudes out 
of work into a state of forced starvation. In revenge 
they burned factories, destroyed the new machines, and 
generally throughout Europe they were striking, riot- 
ing, devastating, without intelligence or organization. 
Speaking of an English insurrection, Carlyle says : 
" A million of hungry operative men rose all up, came 
all out into the streets, and — stood there. What 
other could they do ? Their wrongs and griefs were 
bitter, insupportable. ... A million hungry operative 
men started up, in utmost paroxysm of desperate pro- 
test against their lot; and certain hundreds of drilled 
soldiers sufficed to suppress this million-headed hydra, 
and tread it down, without the smallest appeasement, 
or hope of such, into its subterranean settlements 
again, there to reconsider itself." There were many 
socialists in Europe, great-hearted idealists, who saw 
this misery, and wept ; but even to them labor appeared 
like Millet's " Man with the Hoe": plundered, pro- 
faned, and disinherited, promising his whirlwinds of 
rebellion ; but " stolid and stunned, a brother to the 
ox." He was too gross and stupid and crushed, they 
thought, to raise himself, or to realize the cause of his 
misery ; and it was, they imagined, only instinctive 
that occasionally there ran through him a paroxysm 
of blind and brutal revolt. " Look around you," 
Carlyle said to the masters. " Your world hosts are 
all in mutiny, in confusion, in destitution ; on the eve 
of fiery wreck and madness." 

What reasonable man could have looked in the 



300 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

direction of the people with any confidence ? The 
great minds, then working to find a solution for the 
intolerable misery of the masses, looked upon them 
with compassion and not with hope. There were, 
however, two young Germans, Karl Marx and Frederick 
Engels, working among some fugitives and political 
exiles in Belgium and Paris. The Communist Alliance, 
mainly a conspiratory organization, had been founded 
in 1836 by some revolutionists. It had gradually 
spread to all the German working men's clubs of 
England, Belgium, France, and Switzerland, and in 
order to make it international it was decided to admit 
members from other nationalities also. When Marx 
entered the alliance, it became an open organization 
for propaganda instead of secret and conspiratory. 
Rejecting its ridiculous ideas of insurrection, it began 
seriously the work of education, and became a school 
for socialism. Although it never exercised any con- 
siderable influence upon other nationalities, it con- 
tinued to grow as long as the flood of German political 
exiles continued. 

Two congresses were held in 1847, the second of 
which decided to publish a manifesto, which Marx and 
Engels were delegated to write. In the following year, 
shortly before the February revolution, the now famous 
Communist Manifesto was issued. Its significance was 
immense ; for besides giving a rapid survey of industrial 
evolution it proclaimed for the first time the idea of a 
Labor Party, independent of all other political organi- 
zations. Amidst the chaos of the time Marx alone saw 
the forces gathering, out of which were slowly evolving 
a definite political and economic organization of the 
workers. He recognized that the working-class was 



THE INTERNATIONAL 301 

not then sufficiently developed to constitute itself into a 
distinct party, and consequently that the struggle of the 
workers could not immediately assume a political char- 
acter ; but he prophesied that that would be the outcome 
of industrial evolution. In the manifesto he traced 
briefly the character of the revolts then taking place 
against capitalist institutions, and pointed out that the 
working-class was being driven more and more to or- 
ganize for protection and mutual assistance. He admits 
that the organization of the proletarians into a class, 
and consequently into a political party, is continually 
being upset by the competition between the workers 
themselves ; but nevertheless it ever rises again stronger, 
firmer, and mightier. The communist associations, 
through which he had hoped to carry on an interna- 
tional propaganda, failed to bring definite results. They 
were, to begin with, exotic, and consisting almost en- 
tirely of German exiles it was impossible for them to 
influence their fellow-workmen of other nationalities. 
As soon, therefore, as the number of political refugees 
decreased the clubs became weaker, and within a few 
years extinct. 

Meanwhile the workers throughout Europe were 
actively engaged organizing trade unions, cooperatives, 
and mutual societies to aid in their struggle with capi- 
talism. It was a period of great activity, and while 
Marx and Engels devoted most of their time during the 
next fifteen years to scientific and literary work, they 
were not without hope that the organization of the 
working-class would develop international strength. 
Toward the sixties they believed that the time was 
arriving for the launching of an organization compris- 
ing the labor movements of the various countries, and 



302 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

when a meeting took place in London in 1863 for the 
purpose of expressing sympathy with the Polish people, 
who had just been crushed again by Russia, the idea 
was broached and sympathetically considered. A short 
time later a second meeting of sympathy for. Poland 
was held in London, in which some French workers 
took part, and after a debate on the social question, it 
was finally resolved to form the International. On the 
28th of September in the following year, at a memo- 
rable meeting in St. James's Hall, London, the Inter- 
national Working Men's Association was founded. 
Marx edited the inaugural address, the program, and 
the constitution. It was not to be a fighting organiza- 
tion, but rather, so far as possible under the conditions 
prevailing at that time, a centre for all endeavors 
toward the emancipation of the working-class. In a 
measure it was a practical fulfilment of the appeal 
addressed to the workers sixteen years before in the 
Communist Manifesto, — " Proletarians of all countries, 
unite ! " 

The new movement was an attempt to bring together 
all the organizations, and to harmonize all the diverse 
tendencies represented in the revolutionary movements 
of Europe. It included working-class leaders, from the 
extreme anarchist to the moderate republican of the 
Mazzini type. In England the members were mostly 
trade unionists ; in Germany, socialists ; in France and 
the Latin countries, anarchists. A few working men's 
organizations in America allied themselves, and in other 
countries there were many affiliated groups. Nearly all 
the leaders, however, were of the middle class, and 
many able thinkers sympathized with and supported the 
movement. It started with every promise of success ; 



THE INTERNATIONAL 303 

but it was loosely organized, and it mirrored the chaotic 
condition of the working-class itself. More brilliant 
than substantial, it was not long before bitter feuds 
broke out among the leaders, which added to the gen- 
eral confusion, and divided the workers even more 
grievously than before. 

The various tendencies represented not only a differ- 
ence in view as to economic theory, but as to tactics as 
well ; and Marx and Engels soon saw that no harmony 
could exist between their method of political action and 
that of the anarchists, who believed that the new society 
must be founded upon the entire destruction of the old. 
In addition to these two diametrically opposed views 
there were countless minor tendencies, almost as im- 
possible to harmonize. The Blanquists were con- 
spirators, hoping to capture by stealth the French 
government. The Proudhonians were opposed to all 
parliamentary action, and the republicans and liberals 
were unable to see the necessity for a working-class party 
independent of the old political organizations. Instead, 
therefore, of uniting the workers, the International be- 
came the storm centre of divisions, of warring personali- 
ties, of jealous and ambitious intellectuals, until finally 
Marx became a dictator. 

Marx was a trained polemicist. At the age of twenty- 
four he and some friends founded a German paper. 
His attacks upon the government were ferocious, but 
his literary ingenuity was such that the censors could 
find nothing to condemn. The authorities again and 
again changed the censor, and then his articles were sub- 
mitted to a double censorship ; but even that was ineffec- 
tual, and in despair the government was forced eventually 
to suppress the paper. As editor of this and other 



304 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

German papers, and as a literary free-lance, Marx con- 
ducted for about twenty years a relentless campaign 
against the governments, the Liberals, and the hypocriti- 
cal politicians. He was an unsparing critic. The Chinese 
say that if you have an enemy, treat him as an ele- 
phant, even though he be a mouse. Some of Marx's 
opponents were of little consequence, but he always 
treated them as leviathans. 

One of Marx's greatest polemics is " The Eighteenth 
Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte." Liebknecht says of it : 
"The words are darts and spears, and the style one that 
stigmatizes and destroys. If hate, if scorn, if burning 
love of freedom ever found expression in flaming, anni- 
hilating, and elevating words, then it was surely in the 
Eighteenth Brumaire. " In answer to the criticisms 
sometimes made against Marx's writings, that they are 
obscure and unintelligible, Liebknecht, speaking of this 
book, asks : " Is the dart incomprehensible that flies 
straight to its target ? Is the spear unintelligible that, 
hurled by a steady hand, penetrates the heart of the 
enemy ? " Another polemic is " Mr. Vogt," where Marx 
gives play to his extraordinary gifts as humorist and satir- 
ist. At twenty-eight years he engaged in an intellectual 
duel that is now famous in the history of socialism, with 
one of the greatest French economists. Proudhon and 
Marx knew each other intimately, and often spent entire 
nights together discussing socialism. But they could 
not agree, and when Proudhon published his " Philoso- 
phy of Misery," he wrote to Marx, saying, " I wait your 
criticism." A few months afterward Marx published 
his scathing " Misery of Philosophy." It was terrific, 
and ended their friendship forever. 

This critical power of Marx was his most terrible 




Karl Marx. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 305 

weapon, and he used it without the slightest mercy 
against all whom he considered to be mistaken either in 
their economic views or socialist tactics. A school of 
great thinkers, the early French socialists, rest to-day 
under the stigma of his powerful critique — they were 
Utopians. He condemned the state socialists and even 
the theories of Lassalle in Germany, who always 
considered himself a disciple of Marx. Finally he 
turned upon Bakounine and the anarchists, who formed 
one of the most powerful sections of the International. 
Bakounine was a great intellect, and his influence 
in Russia, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland 
was immense. It was a battle royal, which finally in 
1872 forced Marx, in order to rid the movement of the 
dangerous tactics of the anarchists, to destroy the Inter- 
national itself. 

At this stage of Marx's career he could hardly have 
appeared to the superficial observer as an attractive per- 
sonality. His influence in the movement seemed purely 
destructive. He appeared monstrously quarrelsome, and 
his enemies spread throughout Europe the impression 
that he was a dishonest and ambitious politician, con- 
sumed with egotism. To them he was a mere charlatan 
who had forced himself into a position of dictatorship in 
the International, and they expected the most disastrous 
consequences. Perhaps the kindliest criticism that one 
finds of Marx amongst his enemies of that period is that 
of Bakounine. " I have known Marx for a long time," 
he says, " and although I deplore certain defects truly 
detestable of his character, such as a tempestuous and 
jealous personality, susceptible, and too much given to 
admiration of himself, an implacable hatred, which mani- 
fests itself in the most odious calumny, and a ferocious 



306 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

persecution against all those who, while sharing the same 
tendencies as his, have the misfortune not to be able to 
accept either his particular system or his supreme and per- 
sonal direction ; . . . nevertheless I have always highly 
appreciated and rendered complete justice to the truly 
superior science and intelligence of Marx, and to his 
unalterable, enterprising, and energetic devotion to the 
great cause of the emancipation of the proletariat. I 
recognize the immense services he has rendered the In- 
ternational, of which he has been one of the principal 
founders, and which constitutes to my eyes his greatest 
title to glory.' ' 

Opposed to the criticisms of his enemies we have the 
eulogies of his friends ; few men have possessed more 
devoted ones. Liebknecht, in his charming memoir of 
Marx, shows how great he was in heart and mind. 
"This generous heart," he says, "that throbbed so 
warmly for everything human and for everything bear- 
ing human features. . . . He was not only the most 
loving of fathers ; he could be a child among children 
for hours. He was also attracted as by magnetism 
toward strange children, particularly helpless children 
that chanced to cross his way. Time and again he 
would suddenly tear himself away from us, on wander- 
ing through districts of poverty, in order to stroke the 
hair of some child in rags or to slip a penny into its 
little hand." What a contrast this, to the pitiless, icono- 
clastic Marx one thinks of in the International. His 
charity, his faithfulness, his courage despite the oppres- 
sive poverty to which he was nearly always subjected, 
and his disinterested devotion to the workers, cannot 
be questioned if one reads the few sketches of his per- 
sonality that are left to us by his friends. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 307 

Far from being vain and egotistical, " Marx was," 
Liebknecht says, " one of the few among the great, little, 
and average men I have known who was not vain." 
He "was too much like a child to simulate." He was a 
poor diplomatist, as " he was truth personified, free from 
guile and hypocrisy." He worked tremendously hard, 
and being often hindered during the daytime took 
refuge in the night. When he went home from some 
meeting or session, he would sit down regularly for a 
few hours, and these hours were more and more ex- 
tended until finally he was accustomed to work all 
night. Liebknecht sums up his estimate of Marx in 
these words : " Happily I became acquainted with 
great men so early in life and so intimately that my 
belief in idols and human gods was destroyed at a very 
early period, and even Marx was never an idol to me, 
although of all human beings I have met in my life he 
was the only one who has made an imposing impression 
upon me." Liebknecht' s memoir is simple and un- 
affected, showing every sign of complete sincerity. 
Frederick Engels, the lifelong, devoted friend and in- 
separable companion of Marx, was something of a 
hero-worshipper, and time has yet to justify what he 
wrote just after Marx's death : " The greatest mind of 
the second half of our century has ceased to think." 

The time has not arrived to make a complete estimate 
of Marx, but at least it can be seen that the fears of his 
opponents in the International were without foundation. 
If he presumed to be a dictator, it was not because he 
was personally ambitious or desired to conduct a per- 
sonal warfare ; it was because he had a constructive 
policy which he profoundly believed contained the es- 
sential principles upon which the working-class move- 



308 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ment should be conducted. His warfare was against 
policies and not men. Like other great intellects he 
often pursued his ends with relentless vigor and almost 
brutal power. However much of sentiment there was 
in his personal relations, it did not affect the conduct 
of his policies. That individuals were injured did not 
count, and sentiments of mercy found no place in his 
great campaign for synthesizing the doctrines and de- 
fining the tactics of working-class organization. A 
man in whom sentiment was predominant could not, 
after having, for the sake of working-class unity, created 
a great movement like the International, for the same 
reason destroy it, after a brief existence of nine years. 

But there was much left to Marx after the fall of the 
International. It had at least rendered him one great 
service. He had selected from amongst its members 
men who proved to be some of the ablest leaders in 
the European movement. It is most amusing to read 
of the methods Marx used in selecting his disciples. 
He was not a zealous devotee of phrenology, but he 
believed in it to some extent, and when young men of 
prepossessing ability came along, Marx put them through 
an examination which was terrifying, and often sub- 
mitted their skulls to a minute examination. He then 
put them through a course of study, and those who 
came to him in London were sent to the reading room 
of the British Museum to pass a certain time each day. 
Every morning he would shout to his pupils, as he sent 
them off to the Museum, this imperative, " Learn, 
learn ! " Liebknecht says that " while the rest of the 
fugitives were laying plans for the overthrow of the 
world, and intoxicating themselves day by day, evening 
by evening, with the hasheesh drink of, c To-morrow 



THE INTERNATIONAL 309 

the revolution will start ' ; we the ' sulphur gang,' ' the 
bandits/ were sitting in the British Museum, trying to 
educate ourselves and to prepare arms and ammunition 
for the battles of the future." 

In this way Marx schooled many of his disciples who 
were to give form during the next few years to the po- 
litical movement of the working-class in nearly every 
country in Europe. Wherever they went, they con- 
ducted the same battle that Marx had previously led in 
the International. In Italy they opposed the purely 
republican policy of the followers of Mazzini and Gari- 
baldi, although at a congress in 188 1, at which the 
latter presided, socialists and republicans sat side by side. 
For over twenty years the Marxists used their utmost 
efforts to win the working-class from the anarchists and 
from other leaders of the violent type, and it was not 
until the nineties that a definitely political movement 
came into being. In France, amidst a wild confusion 
of doctrines, they were forced to battle with the anti- 
parliamentary views of Proudhon, the secret and 
conspiratory methods of the Blanquists, the ruinous 
patronage of the republicans, and the blind and violent 
policy of the anarchists; but as early as 1878 Jules 
Guesde, Paul Lafargue, and Gabriel Deville brought 
a section of the French workers into the political move- 
ment. 

In Germany there was a similar struggle going on 
between the Marxists, the Lassallians, the anarchists, 
and the sentimental socialists. That incomparable agi- 
tator, Lassalle, had for several years been engaged in 
organizing the Universal Workmen's Association. Lieb- 
knecht, when he returned from London, began to pro- 
mote the International; and soon converted August Bebel 



310 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to the Marxian view. The movement, however, was di- 
vided until 1875, when finally through the oppression 
of Bismarck the two rival sections were forced together, 
and a compromise program was adopted. De Paepe, 
in Belgium, long found it impossible to unite the war- 
ring factions, and the conflict between the followers of 
Proudhon and Marx continued uninterruptedly until 
1885, when the Labor Party was inaugurated. In Hol- 
land the movement was also taking form, although in 
1890 differences of a serious character arose between 
the followers of the famous anarchist, Domela Nieu- 
wenhuis, and the Marxists. In Denmark a socialist 
labor party was the work of the International, but it 
soon degenerated into a simple trade union, although it 
retained its political program. Eventually, however, 
the Danish socialists in 1878 came to an agreement 
with the unions, left the middle-class parties, and 
formed a social democratic organization. A similar 
thing happened in Sweden, but 'in Switzerland the 
foundation of a party was delayed until 1888. In 
Spain a strong anarchist tendency among the workers 
prevented the growth of socialism until Pablo Ingle- 
sias founded a paper in 1888; and shortly afterward a 
socialist party was formed. In Austria a political 
movement was organized about the same time as the 
German party, but because of unequal suffrage it 
remained weak in parliamentary representation until 
1907. In Russia there have been endless ruptures, 
which are not yet healed. All sections of the Russian 
movement have used terrorist methods. The anar- 
chists have been the most influential among the peasants, 
while the Social Democratic Party, with a Marxian pro- 
gram, has made great headway in the industrial centres. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 311 

In England the working men have only recently as a 
body adopted the independent political attitude. Be- 
sides these national organizations of the old world there 
are now branches of the international movement in 
America, in Brazil, in Argentina, in Australia, in South 
Africa, and in Japan. 

From this rapid survey of the spread of socialism 
throughout the world some idea is gained of the organ- 
izing ability and untiring labor of the socialists after the 
death of the International. It gives at the same time 
convincing proof of the practical foresight of Marx, and 
of the unifying and potent character of his program. 
The Marxian position has been adopted as the basis of 
action by practically all socialist political organizations. 
The doctrines and literature are everywhere the same, 
and it is common for a speech of Bebel, Jaures, or 
Guesde to be translated into ten or more different 
languages, to become a part of the propaganda in 
every working-class district in the world. This work 
of internationalizing socialist thought, and of uniting 
the workers of all the world upon a common pro- 
gram, is certainly one of the greatest achievements of 
modern times, and the credit of it belongs to Marx. 
After his death in 1883, Engels wrote to Liebknecht, 
" Whatever we all are, we are through him ; and what- 
ever the movement of to-day is, it is through his theoreti- 
cal and practical work; without him we should still be 
stuck in the mire of confusion." It is a just tribute, 
as not even the most bitter opponent of Marx could 
deny. It was his labor that brought the workers 
out of an indescribable chaos of discordant and con- 
tradictory doctrines, and it was his disciples that won 
the workers from the disastrous methods of conspiracy, 



312 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

insurrection, and riot advocated by the anarchists. What 
seemed in the day of the old International to be wild 
destruction and petty personal warfare on the part of 
Marx has proved to have been the necessary demolition 
of obstructing and demoralizing policies to make way 
for the stupendous constructive work of working-class 
organization. 

The influence of Marx has been so dominant in the 
development of modern socialism that its critics outside 
of Germany have repeatedly said that socialism is wholly 
a German product, and that like other exotics it would 
not take firm root in the unfriendly environment of 
other lands. Events have proved the falsity of this 
prophecy; but that socialism is German in origin often 
goes unquestioned. Without wishing to minimize in 
the least the immense contributions made by the 
Germans, it is nevertheless indisputable that socialism 
is no more German than capitalism is English or the 
trusts American. They are all essentially international, 
and owe their development to steam power and the 
machine. Every nation has made its contribution to 
the upbuilding of both capitalism and socialism. It is 
unquestionable that Marx played a stupendous role in 
the evolution of socialism, both as a philosophy and as a 
political movement, and the German organization was 
the first concrete working out of his political views ; but 
the second fact is largely accidental, and the first is not 
proof of German origin. 

Marx was no more a German than Heine. He was 
born in Germany of Jewish parents. But his father 
taught him Voltaire and Rousseau, and his father-in- 
law, Baron von Westphalen, recited to him by heart 
Homer and Shakespeare. To Germany he owes his 



THE INTERNATIONAL 313 

exceptional early education, and to Germany's persecu- 
tion he owes a life of exile in Holland, Belgium, France, 
and England, which brought him into intimate contact 
with all the great revolutionists of his time, and gave to 
his thought its international character. Marx knew 
nearly all modern languages, and he wrote in English, 
articles for the " New York Tribune/ ' and in French, 
articles for various continental papers. His book on 
the Eastern question shows the world-wide scope of his 
outlook in diplomacy and international politics. His 
economics came largely from England, where capitalism 
was furthest developed, his socialist sympathies from 
the French writers, and his scientific method from the 
Germans. He was far removed from the national or 
provincial mind, and while he drew his materials from 
the science, philosophy, politics, and economics of all 
lands, no one nation can claim to have had an exclusive 
or decisive influence upon his thought. Marx's critical 
capacity and logical method enabled him to accept the 
best in the thought of the early French socialists with- 
out becoming their disciple, of benefiting by the re- 
search of the early English economists without accepting 
their conclusions, of making the most of the thought of 
others without necessarily agreeing with their convic- 
tions. He was synthetic, assembling the views of others 
into a homogeneous whole, discarding inconsistencies 
and confusion, and working out into a logical and 
methodical system material much of which others had 
gathered. 

There was hardly an economist, and certainly no great 
socialist thinker of any country, who did not contribute 
something through Marx to modern socialism. The 
philosophy of socialism owes most to the intellectual 



314 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

initiative of the French, in whose literature we find in 
the germ nearly all of its basic doctrines. It is custom- 
ary to-day for socialists to look upon the early French 
thinkers as hardly worthy of consideration, and many 
seem to feel that the Marxian philosophy has displaced 
and rendered valueless the work of this immortal school. 
In great degree this is due to the fact that Marx classed 
them as Utopians ; but Marx, in using this word, was 
referring to their methods and tactics and not to that 
infinite wealth of material in economics, philosophy, and 
history, which they left as a heritage to all mankind. 
Marx himself drew innumerable riches from these vast 
reservoirs. St. Simon was an incomparable historian with 
a truly philosophic mind ; Fourier knew commercialism 
to its roots, and so early and so thoroughly grasped the 
nature of modern capitalism that one must look back 
upon his analyses and prophecies as evidences of the 
almost miraculous critical power of the French mind. 
Besides these two great socialists there was Considerant, 
whose power of portraying the evils of capitalism has 
never been excelled. These are but three of the 
Frenchmen to whom Marx was indebted, and one need 
only mention others such as Baboeuf, Pierre Leroux, 
Louis Blanc, Francois Vidal, Pecqueur, and Cabet, to 
convey some idea of the greatness of this early school 
of French socialism. Marx's quarrel with the French 
socialists was largely due to the fact that they wanted 
to create an artificial society, thus substituting sentimen- 
talism for the natural evolutionary processes which were 
of themselves working out a radical social reconstruc- 
tion. Above all they had no confidence in the working- 
class, and it never occurred to them to think of the 
workers as the sole revolutionary and regenerative 



THE INTERNATIONAL 315 

force. They wanted socialism to be established by a 
class that did not desire it, for a class sorely in need of 
it, but incapable of achieving it for themselves. The 
scientific views of Marx would not harmonize with this 
sentimentalism of the French socialists, and although 
he drew plentifully from their store of social criticism 
and historic analysis, he departed radically from their 
conclusion as to the method to be pursued in the up- 
building of the socialist movement. 

The English contribution to socialism is entirely in 
the field of practice. To begin with, it was the classic 
land of capitalism, and Liebknecht has said that Marx's 
" Capital" could not have been written except in London. 
Side by side with capitalist evolution was the growing 
antagonism of the workers, which was in the middle of the 
last century more clearly defined in England than any- 
where else in Europe. From the very beginning the Eng- 
lish movement has been a perfect example of the class 
struggle, and a striking and almost fatalistic working 
out of the Marxian view. Even when it was limited 
to trade unionism, it was still the best demonstration in 
Europe of an organized instinctive association of the 
disinherited produced largely by the force of economic 
conditions. - The lack of idealism in the English move- 
ment disconcerted Marx and Engels less than it does the 
socialists of the present day ; and as late as 1892 Engels 
wrote that the working-class in England " moves, like 
all things in England, with a slow and measured step, 
with hesitation there ; with more or less unfruitful, tenta- 
tive attempts here ; it moves now and then with an over- 
cautious mistrust of the name of socialism, while it 
gradually absorbs the substance; * and the movement 

* The italics are mine. 



316 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

spreads and seizes one layer of the workers after another. 
It has now shaken out of their torpor the unskilled 
laborers of the East End of London, and we all know 
what a splendid impulse these fresh forces have given 
it in return. And if the pace of the movement is not up 
to the impatience of some people, let them not forget 
that it is the working-class which keeps alive the finest 
qualities of the English character, and that, if a step in 
advance is once gained in England, it is, as a rule, never 
lost afterward. If the sons of the old Chartists were 
not quite up to the mark, the grandsons bid fair to be 
worthy of their forefathers." 

That Engels should grant that the English movement 
gradually absorbs the substance of socialism while dis- 
trusting the name proves how thoroughly he understood 
the English character. In no other country have revo- 
lutions been more profound and more democratically 
beneficial, although, as Mathew Arnold says, in all this 
struggle the English have proceeded by the rule of 
thumb. What was intolerably inconvenient to them 
they have suppressed, not because it was irrational, but 
because it was practically inconvenient. They have 
seldom in suppressing the evils of the past appealed to 
pure reason, as the French invariably do, but always if 
possible to some precedent or form or letter, which 
serves as a convenient instrument for their purpose, and 
which saves them from the necessity of recurring to 
general principles. " They have thus become," as Ar- 
nold goes on to say, " in a certain sense, of all people 
the most inaccessible to ideas, and the most impatient of 
them; inaccessible to them, because of their want of 
familiarity with them, and impatient of them because 
they have got on so well without them." " There is a 



THE INTERNATIONAL 317 

world of ideas, and there is a world of practice," he 
continues. "The French are fond of suppressing the 
one, and the English the other." 

If the French have contributed to socialism a wealth 
of ideas, and the English an impressive instance of the 
inevitable antagonism of the workers to capitalism, the 
Germans have contributed something equally important. 
They have combined the idea and the practice. With- 
out the instinctive idealism of the French, or the instinc- 
tive practice of the English, they are both doctrinaire 
and practical. The Germans were the first to build up 
a political movement of the workers founded upon the 
doctrines and philosophy of socialism. They put into 
the concrete the socialist views of Marx, and made out 
of a doctrine a powerful living reality. Combining the 
practical and the abstract, the methodical and scientific 
Germans have given an example to the world of working- 
class unity and solidarity. Without French thought 
Marx could not have produced the fundamental doctrines 
of modern socialism ; without a knowledge of English 
labor organization it is doubtful if he would have per- 
ceived so clearly the capacity of the working-class for 
organized and consistent action ; and without the gift of 
the Germans for combining the idea and the practice, 
modern socialism could not have reached its present 
position of having a conscious aim, a simple and precise 
doctrine, and an organized practical movement. 

Marx died in 1883, and, therefore, did not live to see 
the new International, as it was not until 1889 that the 
various national movements decided to hold a joint con- 
gress. In that year nearly 400 delegates from twenty 
different countries met in Paris to express their mutual 
accord and to work out some plan for international or- 



318 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ganization. Two years later another congress was held 
in Brussels, with delegates from every country of Europe, 
America, and Australia, and in 1893 an imposing gath- 
ering assembled at Zurich. At the London congress in 
1896 an important question engaged the attention of the 
delegates. The anarchists had begun again to insinuate 
themselves into the movement, with the hope of turning it 
away from peaceful and parliamentary methods. After 
a heated discussion as to whether or not they should be 
admitted, it was finally decided by an almost unanimous 
vote to exclude them altogether ; and to exclude them is 
now the avowed policy in all countries. The congress 
held four years later was not important, and I have re- 
viewed briefly in another chapter the chief debate which 
took place at Amsterdam in 1904. That congress 
marks an epoch in the history of modern socialism. Its 
greatest accomplishment was the unifying of the social- 
ists in France. To achieve this result, it was forced, 
though almost against its will, to adopt a policy of inter- 
national socialist tactics, which, it is reasonable to think, 
prevented a serious crisis, and perhaps a rupture in the 
European movement. 

A notable event occurred on the opening day of the 
Amsterdam congress. After Troelstra had spoken in 
the name of the socialists of the city, Van Kol followed 
with a word of welcome. With that fine emotion so 
characteristic of this old warrior, he turned to the dele- 
gates from Russia and Japan, then at war, and warmly 
complimented the socialists of both countries upon their 
courage in pronouncing themselves against the war when 
it was at its greatest heat. Katayama, the Japanese dele- 
gate, and Plechanoff, the Russian, grasped hands amidst 
thunders of applause from the delegates, who had all 



THE INTERNATIONAL 319 

arisen to their feet. When Van Kol had finished, 
Katayama, mounting to the tribune, was given a tre- 
mendous ovation. His words describing the unhappy- 
condition of the workers in Asia were listened to in re- 
ligious silence, many of the delegates standing while he 
spoke. He deplored the war, and rejoiced especially 
to have been seated at the side of a delegate who repre- 
sented the workers of Russia. He expressed the hope 
that the time would soon come when not only the war of 
the extreme Orient would be at an end, but when the 
state of war which capitalism implies would be at an 
end also. Following him, Plechanoff saluted the dele- 
gates of the International, and especially his Japanese 
brother. He said it was not the Russian people who 
had made war upon the Japanese. It was the worst 
enemy of the Russian people, the imperial government. 
After reviewing shortly the conditions in his stricken 
country, he sat down amidst an enthusiastic demonstra- 
tion. The editor of the proceedings of the congress 
says: " An untranslatable impression of grandeur and of 
force pervaded the inaugural session. The three presi- 
dential addresses at once elevated the minds and hearts 
of the delegates to the lofty and serene conception of an 
international which will assure by solidarity and by 
science the peace of the world and the happiness of 
all." 

From the first congress of the new International in 
1889, to that of 1904, the socialist movement realized an 
immense progress. Van Kol, in his address, recalled 
the fact that the old International had gathered for the 
last time at the Hague in 1872.. A little cafe was suffi- 
cient for all their purposes. At Amsterdam twenty- 
three nations were represented by about 450 delegates, 



320 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

and the success, the harmony, and the increasing power 
exercised by socialism, encouraged the delegates to be- 
lieve that the movement was strong enough to storm the 
citadel of reaction ; it was, therefore, decided to hold the 
following congress in 1907 in some city of the German 
empire. 

Nothing could be more significant of the growing 
international power of the movement than the fact that 
despite the intense hatred with which the emperor and 
the bureaucracy view the German party, they were, 
nevertheless, powerless to prevent it from holding a 
great international meeting upon German soil. Little 
more than a decade before, every German social demo- 
crat was an outlaw, and although the legal status had 
since changed, the attitude of the upper classes had not. 
Again and again it was rumored that the Interna- 
tional gathering would not be permitted. There was a 
certain thrill of excitement, therefore, and a degree of 
uncertainty, when nearly a thousand delegates, repre- 
senting thirty nationalities, arrived at Stuttgart. 

On Sunday, the day before the official opening of the 
congress, workmen with their wives and children began 
to arrive from the neighboring towns. Bands and 
singing societies paraded, carrying before them their 
treasured red flags. Thousands upon thousands came, 
and before the noon hour the streets leading out to a 
great open space near the city were lined with men, 
women, and children. When I arrived at about two 
o'clock in the afternoon, between forty and fifty thou- 
sand people had assembled to hear the socialist orators 
from all the world. Ten or twelve platforms had been 
erected, and upon each was a little group of the most 
distinguished militants in the movement. Over this 



THE INTERNATIONAL 321 

mighty throng, in many languages, came the voices of 
the great agitators, bearing a common message ; and 
although we could not always understand the words, 
we knew their meaning and were glad. 

On the following day the delegates assembled in the 
largest meeting-place in Stuttgart. The Germans had 
organized the congress in their characteristically efficient 
manner, and tables were arranged about the halls with 
banners indicating the seats of the various delegations. 
It was an impressive sight, when they had all gathered, 
to look about the great hall and to see assembled, from 
every industrial district of the world, the extraordinary 
men who, in the face of incredible obstacles, and despite 
the opposition of every government, had forced socialism 
into its present position of power and influence. Nearly 
all the older men had been in prison or had undergone 
years of exile, and some of them, like Hermann Greulich, 
— that sterling old Swiss socialist with the fine white head 
that resembles Tolstoy's, — had even been stoned by the 
workers themselves. There were 300 representatives 
from Germany, about a hundred from France, and 150 
from England. North and South America, Australia, 
and all the smaller nations of Europe were represented, 
and there were two delegates from Japan and two from 
India. Nearly every one was a person of consequence 
in the working-class movement. About a hundred were 
members of European parliaments, many of them rep- 
resented important unions, and there were few that 
did not speak for thousands of organized men. One 
delegate alone represented a million workers. The 
following table gives the number of votes obtained by 
the various national parties at the last elections. I am 
unable to find the vote for Russia, although the socialists 



322 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

elected 132 members to the second Duma. In Hungary 
the socialists have a great following, but little electoral 
strength, as the suffrage is restricted : — 

Votes 

Germany, 1907 3,258,968 

Austria, 1907 1,041,948 

France, 1906 900,000 

Belgium, 1904 ........ 469,094 

United States, 1904 . 409,230 

Great Britain, 1906 350,000 

Finland, 1907 330,000 

Italy, 1904 320,000 

Denmark, 1906 77,000 

Switzerland, 1905 70,000 

Holland, 1905 65,743 

Norway, 1906 45,000 

Sweden, 1905 35>ooo 

Spain, 1904 ........ 29,000 

Chili, 1906 18,000 

Bulgaria, 1903 9,000 

Argentine, 1906 . 3>5°° 

Servia, 1906 ' . 3,133 

Total 7,434,616 

The discussion was carried on in three languages, and 
despite the brilliant qualities of many of the speakers 
the sessions became rather tedious. Five important 
matters were discussed: women's suffrage, emigration, 
the colonial question, the relation between the trade 
unions and the party, and militarism. They were all 
practical questions, which was significant of the enormous 
change in the socialist movement during the last few 
years. No difference of opinion manifested itself con- 
cerning the doctrines of the party, and the time of the 
congress was entirely occupied in earnest effort to come 
to some agreement upon these questions of immediate 
importance. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 323 

Infinitely the most vital from the European standpoint 
was militarism, and for five days the ablest debaters at 
the congress were engaged in the difficult problem of 
drafting a resolution which would satisfy the various 
sections. The newspapers at the time printed reports 
which exaggerated the differences. As a matter of fact 
the views of the mass of party members do not differ in 
any fundamental principle. They are all anti-militarist, 
and they are all agreed to use their utmost influence 
against war, and to do all possible, inside and outside of 
parliament, to prevent the increase of armies and navies. 
But the French evolve theories out of every situation in 
which they become engaged, and certainly anti-militar- 
ism does not mean to the Germans what it means to 
Herve ; namely, anti-patriotism. Both Jaures and 
Bebel emphasized the priceless value to a people of its 
national character. The main difference between them 
lies in the fact that the French are likely to be more 
extreme in their expression and more violent and im- 
practical in their methods than the Germans. Victor 
Adler, the able leader of the Austrian socialists, summed 
up the matter in these effective words : " We Germans 
are not fond of empty threats. We are prepared to 
go further than our promises. We cannot and will not 
say what we should do, but you may rely upon it that 
we should act with as much energy as any one else. ,, 

The importance of the International Congress did not 
lie in its debates and resolutions, and it is unnecessary to 
go into details concerning them. Certainly nothing was 
accomplished at Stuttgart that can compare with the res- 
olution on tactics passed by the delegates at Amsterdam. 
But the gathering was significant, profoundly significant. 
That a thousand delegates, representing the working 



5^4 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

men of thirty nations and close on to ten million voters, 
should confer for one week together is perhaps the 
most impressive event of modern times. It suggests the 
beginning of great things, and presages development of 
stupendous moment. Think of German, French, Italian, 
and English working men, living under governments 
that, armed with every conceivable form of murderous 
and destructive apparatus, glare at each other across 
their frontiers and spread hatred and suspicion among 
the masses, that spend millions upon millions for for- 
tresses, military manoeuvres, and navies, — think of 
them coming together to grasp each other by the 
hand, to march behind one flag, and to call each other 
comrade. Their forebears were for centuries at each 
other's throats, massacring, pillaging, and conquering. 
A word from their kings and emperors sufficed to 
create rivers of blood — here they were at Stuttgart, in 
the face of their opposing governments, inspired by a 
common idea, and planning to fight for instead of against 
each other. Kings, emperors, and ministers, as w T ell as 
the entire press of the world, were discussing the Hague 
Peace Conference, and chose to think it significant. 
Many of the continental rulers w r ould have done any- 
thing to prevent these working men assembling to 
declare themselves comrades, and to discuss seriously 
as comrades universal peace. The discussion of war 
and peace at Stuttgart was not in itself of especial im- 
portance; but the week's fellowship, expressive as it 
was of universal brotherhood, — that w r as significant. 

A flood of interesting thoughts surged in upon one 
attending that memorable gathering of men from all 
lands. The want of a common language was agonizing 
at times, and one often grasped the hand of a comrade 



THE INTERNATIONAL . 325 

without being able to speak a word of greeting. De- 
spite every evidence of unity of purpose and cordial fel- 
lowship, the national characteristics were strong. The 
national groups were differentiated one from another, so 
that they seemed almost well-defined individuals, thus 
affording a rare opportunity to observe traits of national 
psychology. There were the French with their fine 
idealism, worshipping the abstract as something human, 
concrete, and tangible. Nervous and passionate, they 
permeated the entire gathering with their electric men- 
tality. What a contrast were the scientific, doctrinaire, 
erudite Germans, whose methodical efficiency was every- 
where in evidence. The gifted Belgians seemed at 
times to be Frenchmen, at other times stolid and prac- 
tical Germans. The slow-moving, sluggish man of the 
north had little to say and much to show for his quiet 
and effective labor. Fair and big and phlegmatic, he 
was the counterpart of the dark, hot-blooded, emotional 
Italian whose nimble mind and imaginative flights car- 
ried him to all sorts of excesses. And then there was 
the sad, brooding, spiritual Russian, whose sacrifices 
know no bounds while the ideal is unattained. 

These differences in national psychology convey some 
impression of how varied an edifice socialism w T ill be 
when finally it comes into being. One cannot doubt 
the socialism of Italy will be very different from that 
of England. I can even imagine that the socialism 
acceptable to the men of the north will be intolerable 
to the men of the south. There must be a common 
foundation, if socialism is to weld the peoples together, 
and such a foundation exists in the doctrines and fun- 
damental principles of socialism. But this basis resem- 
bles the earth itself, in that upon it must be built edifices 



326 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

that will vary in use and beauty according to the gifts 
of the associated builders. Socialism will vary as our 
democracy and political institutions, our literature and 
cathedrals, in short as the peoples themselves vary. For 
the present the international movement signifies a com- 
mon battle against capitalism. It means to destroy 
wage-slavery, and to raise what are now the subject 
classes into a position of dominant influence. In that, 
there is no variation in doctrine or belief. It involves 
war to the end against the destructive forms of compe- 
tition which create our modern chaos, our contrasting 
wealth and poverty, and which make of the masses of 
men mere pawns in the great international game of 
industrialism, commercialism, and war. 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 

(supplementary chapter) 

Russia. — It is difficult to give any concise statement of the 
position of socialism in Russia, because of the tremendous 
upheavals of recent years. Suffice to say that the brief and 
eventful career of the Duma has clearly demonstrated that 
under normal conditions, and with universal suffrage, the 
socialists would be in possession of governmental power. 
Never was there a time when the autocracy had to fight so 
strenuously to preserve its privileges, and even its existence. 
Panic-stricken, the authorities have gone to the extreme in 
their efforts to suppress the various nationalities they have 
conquered; to propagate race and religious antagonism, in 
order to obscure from the toiling masses the real cause of 
their misery ; and to stamp out by the most horrible methods 
the spirit of revolution. 

The first traces of the socialist movement were apparent 
in the forties, but for thirty years it was confined to small 
groups of university men and students, with a few remarkable 
working men. About the time Bakounine was agitating in 
Western Europe, and the International was effecting working- 
class organization, young men and women of the more pros- 
perous classes left their families and fortunes in order to 
propagate socialism among the people. The Russians, es- 
pecially the peasant class, have always had communist aspira- 
tions, and the emancipation of the serfs was to them the 
realization of a long-cherished ideal. Nevertheless the spread 
of socialistic ideas was at first very slow. The various socialist 
circles were broken up again and again by the government, 

327 



; _ S SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

and their members banished or imprisoned. This persecution 
led to the adoption of terrorist tactics on the part of the 
socialists for about four years, culminating in the death of 
Alexander II in March, 1881. The coming of industrialism 
in its most intense form marked an epoch in socialist propa- 
ganda. What with the opening of the coal and iron fields in 
the South, and the textile trades in St. Petersburg, Moscow, 
Nijni Novgorod, and Lodz, something like two million people 
were drawn off the land and concentrated in factories. Con- 
sequently it needed but few years of capitalist exploitation for 
them to realize class-consciousness. Beginning with the great 
fight of the weavers in St Petersburg in 1896, strike after 
strike took place all over the country, skilfully engineered by 
the socialists, up to the memorable general strike of 1903; 
which, commencing in the South, spread until a quarter of a 
million workers had ceased production. The industrial crisis 
which had set in, however, rendered strikes to a considerable 
extent ineffective, and the starving populace had nothing left 
to do but demonstrate in the streets, with the consequence 
that massacres by the soldiery were frequent Amid the 
general ferment the revolutionary movement, in which the 
socialists were the directing force, spread with marvellous 
rapidity. 

There are three principal socialist organizations in Russia : 
the Socialist Revolutionary Party, who accept terrorism as a 
transitory necessity; the Social Democratic Party, pure Marx- 
ists, advocating the class movement as against individual ac- 
tion; and the Bund, composed exclusively of working Jews. 
Roughly it might be said that the two former are divided 
principally on the matter of terrorist tactics and concerning 
the land question. With regard to the latter problem, the 
Social Democrats, consisting for the most part of the industrial 
workers of the towns, favor only the expropriation of large 
landowners. In this respect they might be considered op- 
portunist in their tactics, as they do not want to alienate the 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 329 

sympathies of the small holders. On the other hand the 
Socialist Revolutionary Party stands for the out and out ex- 
propriation of the land, and events have demonstrated that 
the peasants are fully in accord with their advanced agrarian 
program. Says Mr. English Walling : " Whether or not this 
program succeeds depends largely on the action of the Social 
Democrats. The government and the bourgeois parties are 
already doing everything in their power to break up the vil- 
lage commune and increase the number of small proprietors. 
If this process is not stopped, the number of small proprietors 
will be doubled within a few years, complete nationalization 
will have become impossible, and Russia will have to wait 
decades or generations for the social revolution." The So- 
cialist Revolutionists say that the signal for the expropriation 
of the land will be the signal for the general insurrection of the 
people. But while preparing for this, they will not cease the 
daily struggle. They claim that history has justified their 
terrorism, both individual and collective. And, moreover, 
"We shall not cease to use terrorist tactics in the political 
struggle until the day when shall be realized the institutions 
making the will of the people the source of power and legis- 
lation." 

In view of the tragedy of October, 1905, the socialists 
deemed it wiser to do all in their power to retard any further 
open struggle until the masses, and especially the agricultural 
population, should have been properly organized. Unfortu- 
nately the march of events did not obey their will, and the 
insurrection of Moscow broke out. However, this served to 
prove the possibility of an armed uprising, because during the 
eight days of barricade fighting, the government trembled for 
its existence. And when the revolutionists abandoned their 
positions, having served their purpose, the government, imagin- 
ing that the revolution had played itself out, burst into a 
frenzy of reaction and persecution. " But only the blind could 
think that the colossal social and political crisis which affects 



330 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

our immense country could be closed within the limits of two 
or three months." 

Considering it fruitless, the Socialist Revolutionary Party 
decided not to take part in the elections to the first Duma, 
but to apply themselves energetically to opening the eyes of 
the people to the mock constitution that had been set up ; and 
while the government was engaged in managing the elections, 
the socialists had exceptional liberty in their propaganda. 
Books, pamphlets, and newspapers were published by the 
million; the committees which had been smashed up were 
reconstituted ; and all together the socialists had a great day. 
However, notwithstanding their statements that they would 
have nothing to do with the Duma, revolutionists were elected 
by the people, and a strong labor group was formed. This it 
was decided to make use of in the furtherance of the socialist 
cause. But the first Duma, in which so many hopes had been 
placed by the people, only lasted ninety days ; and the interval 
between the first and second parliaments proved to be one 
of the blackest periods of unbridled government terrorism, 
pogroms, courtmartials, and executions. The authorities were 
absolutely ferocious because the Duma had not been amenable 
to their power, and as usual their ferocity was greatest against 
the socialists, who were obliged to retort with acts of terrorism. 
The flower of the socialist forces perished in the prisons, in 
Siberia, and on the scaffold. The average existence of a com- 
mittee was two months ; of a journal, two numbers. But the 
influence of the socialists grew enormously, thousands of meet- 
ings were held, and a huge amount of literature was distributed 
in secret. 

At a meeting of the council of the party in November, 1906, 
it was resolved to take part in the election for the second 
Duma; considering it now compatible with their tactics, as 
the presence of members of the party in parliament could be 
utilized for propaganda purposes. The war and famine had 
favored the exploits of bands of thieves, and their depreda- 




o c 



3 o 



*■■ 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 33 1 

tions were baptized with the name of " expropriations." As 
this was likely seriously to compromise the socialist move- 
ment, the council considered it necessary to take some action 
in the matter. Members were, therefore, invited to abstain 
from the expropriation of private goods, or goods belonging 
to private societies. However, confiscation of all goods de- 
tained by the Czarist government was admissible, but this must 
be under the immediate control of the regional committees, 
who would restitute all funds to the central committee for use 
for the common good. The regional committees were more- 
over invited to organize the masses by military methods. 

Perhaps the greatest achievement of the party in the second 
Duma was in the matter of their agrarian measure, put forward 
for the second time. In the first parliament this project, which 
claims the socialization of the land, only received 33 votes; in 
the second it received 105, which included the peasant depu- 
ties. So that the agrarian program of the party has been 
indorsed by the whole progressive peasant population. 

Among the soldiers and sailors the socialist propaganda has 
made great progress, as is shown by the perpetual unrest and 
frequent mutinies in those two services. Even the Cossacks 
have commenced to reflect and comprehend the horror of 
the role they are made to play. Very encouraging also is the 
progress among the boatmen and other employees along the 
Volga, and the great railroad union. 

The confidence that the autocracy had put in the peasants 
in the first and second Dumas was altogether misplaced. In- 
stead of supporting reaction, the peasants sent their own 
representatives to parliament. The government, therefore, 
changed completely the " constitution," so that the effect of 
the third election to the Duma is that an absolute majority is 
given into the hands of 135,000 of landed proprietors and rich 
bourgeois. Thus the parliament is composed of the privileged 
classes and their creatures. The new electoral law has given 
nearly three-fourths of the seats to the nobles, one-fourth to 



332 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the rich bourgeois, leaving only a twentieth to the other classes. 
The erstwhile socialist members have been sent to Siberia or 
to prison. And the struggle goes on. 

Austria. — Because of the multiplicity of languages within 
the empire the Austrian Social Democratic Party is composed 
of several national groups — Germans, Czechs, Poles, Italians, 
Slavs, and Ruthenians — autonomous to a large extent, but 
forming what has been called a " Little International.' ' Defi- 
nite organization was achieved at the close of the eighties. 
The strong trade unions were driven by autocratic oppression 
into political action, and they became affiliated with the so- 
cialist party. The trade unions now make a great point of 
their social democratic character, and vigorously repudiate the 
" neutrality " idea. But the general situation in Austria was 
until recently most unpromising. The unsettled relations 
between Austria and Hungary, the animosity fostered by the 
various nationalist parties, the frequent massacres of striking 
laborers, had a depressing effect upon industrial conditions, 
and starvation was prevalent. In Galicia especially, thousands 
died of starvation every year, while the blind revolts of the 
proletariat were ruthlessly crushed by the soldiery. Because 
of the restricted suffrage, and the amount of electoral thimble- 
rigging that was possible, there was little hope for the people 
in the ballot-box. Besides, open intimidation at the polls by 
the police was general. Nevertheless, in 1901 the socialists 
assembled 780,000 votes, and elected ten members to the 
Reichsrath. The group, maintaining a strict independence in 
parliament, and the party outside, concentrated their efforts on 
the campaign for universal suffrage. The propaganda, mainly 
oral because of the illiteracy of the people, was superbly organ- 
ized, and the workers generally gave them enthusiastic support. 
As an illustration of the intense feeling at Vienna, so disgusted 
were the printers at having to set up articles abusing the 
socialists and universal suffrage, that they struck work and tied 
up six of the big capitalist newspapers. 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 333 

The fight for and the winning of universal manhood suffrage 
in Austria is one of the brightest pages in the history of social- 
ism. The granting of a " constitution " in Russia, and the suf- 
frage fight going on in Hungary, had a stimulating effect, and 
at the annual congress of the party in 1905, all sections were 
eager for battle. It was while the congress was in the midst 
of a discussion of the question that the Czar's constitutional 
manifesto was published in Vienna ; and the delegates jumped 
to their feet, sang songs of battle, and made a solemn declara- 
tion that they would fight to the end whatever the issue, even 
if it meant a general strike. The same evening more than 
30,000 working men and women united in a great demonstra- 
tion before parliament and the Hofburg. Enthusiastic meet- 
ings followed in all the towns and provinces, and collisions 
with the soldiers and police were frequent. The minister 
Gautsch, who had previously ridiculed the idea of universal 
suffrage, was panic-stricken, and made promise of electoral 
reform before the next general election. On the 28th of No- 
vember, 1905, parliament reassembled, and the working class 
generally declared a holiday throughout the empire. Every- 
where they had meetings and processions, and at Vienna a 
quarter of a million working men and women bearing red flags 
paraded before parliament. It was a day never to be forgotten, 
and created a profound impression of the enormous influence 
of socialism. A deputation of workmen waited upon the presi- 
dents of the council and the two chambers, and made a request 
for immediate electoral reform. In reply, Baron Gautsch an- 
nounced the deposit of a process based upon universal suffrage. 

But it was not until February, 1906, that the government took 
any steps to fulfil its pledge ; and then it was immediately 
obvious that they were not going to satisfy the demands of the 
socialists. They refused to women the right to vote. Even 
the limited measure provoked the resistance of the privileged 
classes, and showed that more vigorous tactics were necessary 
if the socialists were not to be again betrayed. To display any 



334 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

weakness on the part of the proletariat at this moment would 
be to lose all that they had been fighting for. The campaign 
was, therefore, continued with greater energy, and the excite- 
ment of the populace was such that the government was stirred 
to action. The bourgeois fought strenuously against the pro- 
posed reform, and then the socialists had seriously to consider 
whether they should not have recourse to the general strike. 
They decided to commence with a strike of three days in Vienna 
as an experiment. All the preparations were perfectly made, 
down to the last detail, and at a given signal all work would have 
ceased. The government was quite au courant with the situation, 
and had taken precautionary measures. The order to mobilize 
for the occupation of the stations and factories was given; 
while in the city a large military force was massed. But the 
threat of the strike was sufficient. A special commission of the 
Reichsrath was set seriously to work, and on the 21st of July 
there was a repartition of the representation by nationality. 
The greatest difficulty had been overcome. But in the autumn 
the enemies of universal suffrage tried again to thwart the peo- 
ple by introducing a system of plural voting which would have 
been completely subversive. However, the danger was again 
averted by the prompt action of the socialists in arousing the 
public feeling, and the first of December, 1906, saw the new 
measure, giving all men over twenty- four the right to vote, 
adopted in the chamber of representatives, and in the follow- 
ing month by the upper house. 

The work to which the socialists had consecrated long years 
of effort was crowned with success at the elections in May, which 
will live in the memories of all. Instead of only eleven seats in 
parliament, the socialists captured no less than 87; such 
old militants as Victor Adler, David, and Ellenbogen receiving 
enormous majorities. The socialist vote amounted to 
1,041,948, nearly a third of the total vote cast. The Christian 
Socialists, who are bitterly opposed to the Social Democratic 
Party, and have little in common with socialism except the 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 335 

name, obtained 96 members with only 722,314 votes, and the 
Czechs obtained 83 members with only 600,909 votes. But 
although in some parts the socialists had failed to touch 
the agricultural population, the various nationalist parties were 
almost crushed out ; which in itself is a great step in ad- 
vance. A coalition was immediately formed against the 
socialists, but the significance of the elections was made ap- 
parent in the emperor's address, which promised a wonder- 
ful list of social reforms. The Women's Social Democratic 
Party, controlling the women's trade unions, was of great 
aid during the fight, and the effective work done among the 
men is shown by the fact that in two years the number of 
trade unionists was increased from 180,000 to over half a 
million. 

Hungary. — As the constitution of political organizations is 
illegal, it is impossible to indicate the strength of the socialists 
in Hungary \ but through the troublous times of recent years they 
have increased enormously. As early as 1867 two working- 
class organizations were started : the one to follow Schultze- 
Delitsch, who afterward founded the movement for agricultural 
banks, and the other to follow the ideas of Lassalle. The former 
was but short-lived, but in 1869 a democratic union was formed 
and a " Laborers' Journal " founded. The movement was sub- 
jected to brutal treatment on the part of the government. 
Hundreds were exiled, shot, or imprisoned, and the leaders were 
photographed and placed in the rogues' gallery of criminals. 
As a result of this persecution it was not until 1890 that the or- 
ganization became fairly well established; and electoral dis- 
abilities caused it to assume more of a trade union and economic 
character. Little could be done in parliamentary work, and 
although the socialists did extremely well in the municipal 
elections, it was not of much avail, because the local authorities 
have little autonomous power. In the development of trade 
unions splendid progress has been made, as from 1905 to 1906 
the number of organized workmen increased from 71,173 to 



336 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

129,332, or over thirty per cent of the total workers. But it is 
among the rural workers that the propaganda has been most 
effective. The country population is in an incredibly poverty- 
stricken condition, and the sympathetic character of the socialist 
movement has appealed strongly to these starving people. 
They have already been organized into over 600 groups, with a 
membership of 50,000. 

During the last few years especially has the development of 
the socialist party been of a very agitated character, and it is 
now transformed into a group of conspirators, submitted to es- 
pionage and domiciliary visits by the criminal police, and pro- 
scribed by society. The bourgeois parties sought to sidetrack 
the movement by agitating for a separation from the Austrian 
empire, and the whole country was in a ferment over the language 
question. The Austrian government, driven to action, threatened 
to accede to the demand for the recognition of the Hungarian 
language, but that they would couple with it the granting of univer- 
sal suffrage. This not only chagrined the Hungarian bourgeois, 
and caused them hastily to abandon the nationalist movement, 
but it also proved unfortunate for the imperial authorities ; for 
the socialists, who had hitherto kept out of the nationalist 
embroglio, entered with all their force into a campaign 
for universal suffrage. And such was the effect of their 
propaganda, that parliament promised to give the matter atten- 
tion. However, parliament was prorogued indefinitely, and the 
socialists had to keep up their agitation. Eventually the con- 
stitutional difficulty was cleared up somewhat, and parliament 
was reopened with a promise from the throne that universal 
suffrage would be put in the first place. Again nothing was 
done, but when the elections of 1906 took place, not a single 
candidate could be found who would declare himself against 
electoral reform. However, it was soon apparent that the people 
had again been betrayed ; and when the socialists renewed 
their campaign, a veritable reign of terror was instituted against 
the workmen's unions. They even discussed in parliament a 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 337 

measure sanctioning to the landed proprietors the right of 
bastinado in the treatment of their agricultural laborers. 

On the 10th of October last year the people ceased work, 
and a hundred thousand men traversed the main streets of 
Buda Pesth, accompanied by bands playing the " Marseillaise, " 
to the house of parliament, where a deputation waited upon the 
president of the chamber. With simple dignity they declared : 
" We have interrupted the industrial activity of the country in 
order to give expression to the claims of the downtrodden and 
suffering people. We demand universal and secret suffrage." 
They went on to give statistics showing the miserable con- 
dition in which the workers lived, what a great number were 
emigrating, and how those remaining were being mown down 
by tuberculosis. The state had created no new schools, and 
the workmen remained in their ignorance, 38 per cent being 
illiterate. The government had dissolved 354 trade unions. 
The universal vote had been promised, but parliament had 
allowed nineteen months to elapse without dreaming of pre- 
senting any measure. On the contrary they had presented 
laws which had put the proletariat more and more at the 
caprice of the possessing class. 

All the deputation received in reply was a contemptuous 
speech from the president, while a socialist deputy was refused 
the right of interpellation. This reactionary attitude, added to 
the governmental terrorism in attempting to suppress the trade 
unions, has created profound resentment among the workers ; 
and so intense is the feeling, that the situation of the Hungarian 
cabinet cannot be tenable for long, especially in view of the 
winning of the suffrage in Austria. 

Finland. — The trade unions were the foundation of the 
Finnish Labor Party, inaugurated in 1890 with a program 
based upon that of Erfurt. This has since been elaborated, 
in 1903, when the movement took the name of the Finnish 
Social Democratic Party. As soon as the program was pub- 
lished it was confiscated by the police, and the name of the 



338 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

party was not allowed to appear in any newspaper, nor even 
extracts from such writers as Marx, Engels, and Lassalle. The 
population being very scattered, and the winters long and severe, 
the difficulties of propaganda are great; but nevertheless the 
Finns made splendid progress. They have fixed certain pe- 
riods of the year for special agitation, and these have become 
permanent institutions in the life of the people, in addition to 
the general celebration of the First of May. Up to 1905 the 
paying members of the party amounted to nearly 50,000, includ- 
ing 10,000 women. 

The chief accomplishment of the socialists, of course, has 
been their dramatic conquest of universal and equal suffrage 
for men and women. Notwithstanding the fact that every 
meeting was held under the supervision of the police, who 
interfered on the slightest provocation, the socialists attacked 
with vigor the constitution of the Diet. This assembly was 
made up of four distinct classes : the nobles, the clerics, 
the landed proprietors, and the rich bourgeois. Workpeople, 
soldiers, and sailors had no votes ; two per cent of the inhabit- 
ants of a town controlled the electoral power. The agitation 
led to an immense popular demonstration at Helsingfors on 
April 14, 1905, when the huge crowd waited for six hours while 
their demand for the vote was being discussed in the Diet. 
The result was barren, and when it was communicated to the 
people, their emotion and excitement were terrible ; and this feel- 
ing spread throughout the whole proletarian class in Finland, so 
that the 14th of April was called " the day of shame." 

The socialists had already threatened to have recourse to 
more vigorous tactics. They declared that by means of uni- 
versal suffrage the people would elect their own representa- 
tives, form a national assembly, and elaborate a new charter. 
This revolutionary idea was received with enthusiasm by the 
populace, and in October, 1905, during the trouble in Russia, 
the general political strike was declared. The socialists estab- 
lished practically a new government, with all the state depart- 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 339 

merits, and order was perfect everywhere. The committee 
proclaimed the inviolability of the person, the right of free 
speech and of the press, and suppressed the ordinary police 
and the functionaries of the Senate. The bourgeois were in 
a panic, and disputed among themselves as to the methods to 
pursue. One section advocated the convocation of the Diet 
in order, as they said, to hand over the powers to the national 
assembly, while another section proposed that the Diet itself 
should undertake legislation for new representation, or in other 
words to legislate the old Diet out of existence. But the 
socialists would on no account allow the bourgeois to meddle. 
However, the imperial proclamation arrived on the 6th of No- 
vember, conceding all that the workers demanded; and the 
strike terminated. The socialists had little confidence in this, 
and went on making preparations for another strike ; and soon 
mistrust of the government was general. An ex-secretary of 
the party, Kari, accepted a position in the government, and the 
party declared that by so doing he had himself severed his 
connection with socialism. As the socialists were now perfect- 
ing their elaborations for another political strike the authori- 
ties were again thrown into consternation and panic, and 
eventually a measure was rushed though the Diet, and the 
suffrage was sanctioned in St. Petersburg in July, 1906. Still 
several small groups of non-possessors were not franchised, but 
practically all men and women received the right to vote. 

In April, 1907, the general election took place, and although 
the capitalist parties exploited to their utmost the racial and 
lingual differences between the Swedes and the Finns, the suc- 
cess of the socialists was an event never to be forgotten. For 
the first time a socialist sits in the parliament, and for the first 
time in any parliament women have also been elected. Indeed, 
perhaps the greatest praise is due to the women in the winning 
of the suffrage. On one occasion they held a meeting at 
which there were no less than 25,000 women. The socialist 
representation in the Diet numbers 80 out of a total of 200 



340 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

members. Nineteen women were elected, of whom nine were 
socialists. One of them was a housemaid ! 

Sweden. — The proletarian movement dates from the seven- 
ties, up to which time the bulk of the people had been engaged 
in agriculture. Pioneering was done by a Danish tailor named 
Auguste Palm, who started a newspaper entitled " The People's 
Will." This was suppressed, and later a socialist organization 
was founded, which eventually branched off into trade unions. 
These unions came together in 1889 and formed the Social 
Democratic Labor Party, based on a program after the Ger- 
man pattern. The party had thus the excellent foundation of 
a ■ workers' economic movement. It early had its internal 
tribulation, but after a set debate at a congress in 1891 the 
Marxian socialists triumphed over the anarchists. The suffrage 
being very restricted, the socialists made electoral reform the 
main object of their propaganda, while at the same time they 
carried on an incessant agitation for improved conditions in 
industry. Strike after strike was organized, and so admi- 
rably managed that working conditions have been vastly im- 
proved. So advanced was the movement that in 1902, the 
government having played with the people so long on the 
matter of the suffrage, a general strike was declared. In 
Stockholm there were no trams, cabs, gas, electricity ; and all 
production had ceased, 42,000 people having struck work in 
that city alone. The government was in a dilemma, and a 
meeting of the two chambers hastily passed a resolution in- 
viting the government to bring in a measure based upon 
universal suffrage. However, this was but an insincere action 
in order to quiet the people, and the socialists had to con- 
tinue their agitation. In fact, it may be said that the socialists 
of Sweden achieved what success they have because of their 
suffrage agitation and their admirable organization of strikes. 
In the last seven years the number of trade unionists has 
increased from 46,000 to 144,395. 

In 1904 the chamber rejected a measure brought forward 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 34 1 

by the conservative government for so-called universal suffrage, 
as it left intact the predominance of the senate. To be a sen- 
ator it is not necessary to pass examinations or submit to popu- 
lar elections. A considerable income or a big fortune is the 
only necessary qualification. The senate deals with the bud- 
get, so that there is little chance for any legislation which meets 
with the disapproval of this house. During 1905 the govern- 
ment proposed a measure menacing the right to strike of the 
trade unions in the railway, gas, electricity and similar industries, 
obviously an attempt to frustrate any political general strike. 
There was great excitement over this, and without doubt there 
would have been a spontaneous general strike had the measure 
passed. But mainly owing to the strenuous efforts of the 
socialists, it was defeated by 112 votes to no. During this 
same year took place the memorable strike of the metal 
workers, which ended in a decided victory for the workmen. 

With regard to the separation of Sweden and Norway, the 
socialists in congress in 1905, when the Norwegian delegates 
were also present, proclaimed the absolute right of the Nor- 
wegian people freely to decide their own affairs. During the 
crisis the Swedish bourgeois were very excited and bellicose, 
and demanded the mobilization of the army; while for once 
the socialists and the royal family were in accord in the sup- 
port of a peaceful arrangement. 

At the general election of 1905 the party returned thirteen 
(since augmented by two) members instead of four as previ- 
ously. A liberal-radical government came in, and they pro- 
posed a limited suffrage reform, to which, as it would increase 
the electorate from 400,000 to about a million, the socialists 
gave their support. The senate threw it out, and a conserv- 
ative government then took office. The new parliament 
contrived an ingenious measure for universal suffrage, with 
proportional representation for both chambers. The opening 
of the senate to the people was more apparent than real, and 
the socialists, perceiving that it was an attempt to put the 



342 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

senate beyond destruction, opposed the whole measure by a 
vigorous campaign, and demanded a complete constitutional 
revision. " Down with the senate " was their cry, and so 
great appeared to be their influence that the bourgeois parties 
became alarmed. Liberals, and even senators who did not 
like the tampering with the upper house, gave the government 
measure support, and it was passed. It comes into operation 
in three years' time, and as it more than doubles the number 
of voters, the socialists are sanguine of electing quite fifty 
members to the chamber, and perhaps two dozen to the 
Senate. 

Norway. — As it was one of the latest countries to be in- 
vaded by industrialism and capitalism, and as it was already 
one of the most democratic in nature, with an advanced system 
of education and social legislation, socialism did not make a 
beginning in Norway until late in the eighties, when the Labor 
Party was established ; although as early as the fifties Markus 
Thrane, a young agitator, endeavored to organize the workers, 
for which he was many times imprisoned. Socialists, both 
men and women, soon made their way into the municipal 
councils; and it is, perhaps, in its municipal work that 
Norwegian socialism has been most successful, especially 
in Christiania and Trondhjem. It was not until 1903 
that they were represented in the Storthing, when the four 
socialists elected included Dr. Ericksen and Professor Berge, 
the former a Lutheran clergyman, and the latter the only 
Roman Catholic in parliament. The press is well developed, 
and includes the " Social Demokraten," an influential daily. 
The membership of the party is now over 20,000, in 396 
groups. 

Naturally the attention of the Labor Party has been engrossed 
during the last few years by the crisis culminating in the separa- 
tion of the states of Norway and Sweden. Since 1892 the social- 
ists had declared for a severance from the dominance of Sweden, 
in order to put an end to the ruinous military expenditure, the 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 343 

perpetual fear of the Swedish nobles, and in order that Norway 
might devote herself to social reform. The separation was 
effected, but the Liberals, as soon as they had got what they 
wanted, — the establishment of Norwegian consulates, — showed 
themselves to be reactionary, finally dissolving and handing over 
the power of government to a conservative bloc, who gave to 
the Norwegians, up to that time governed after the manner of 
a republic, a Danish king. The socialists fought energetically 
for a republic, and although the time for propaganda was very 
short, it was thought that they would carry the day. The pleb- 
iscite, however, showed only 69,264 for a republic as against 
259,563 for a kingdom. The subsequent action of the social- 
ists in voting to welcome King Haakon to Norway was severely 
criticised throughout the world movement, and to their expla- 
nation that it would have been unconstitutional to have voted 
otherwise after the referendum, the German " Vorwarts " re- 
torted, "Since when have socialists been bound by constitu- 
tions?' 7 Eventually it was given as an excuse by the leading 
socialist review that the party was very young, and that it 
must be remembered it had not been built upon an economic 
foundation as in other countries. 

The elections of 1906 proved a great time for the socialists, 
as they assembled no less than 45,000 votes as against 30,000 
in 1903, and increased their representation to ten. Trade 
unionism has also rapidly developed, the number having in two 
years increased from 9089 to 25,308, and affiliated with the 
Labor Party. Propaganda is making progress among the farm- 
ers and the fishermen. The women throw themselves into the 
work with enthusiasm, and the young people's societies are of 
great help. 

As both the conservatives and the radicals had long ago in- 
scribed on their programs the granting of the suffrage to women, 
the Storthing could no longer refrain from granting this popular 
demand, and in August it became law. All men in Norway 
over 25 years have the right to vote without qualification, and 



344 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the vote is now extended to women over 25, but with a revenue 
qualification. However, as, in the case of married women, they 
are entitled to vote if the specified amount of taxes is paid by 
the husbands, it is calculated that something like 300,000 
women have been enfranchised, which includes a considerable 
majority of the married women. 

Denmark. — It has been said that the progress of socialism in 
Denmark is more encouraging than in any other country. It was 
in the spring of 1 871 that a young post-office official named Louis 
Pio, fired by the socialist ideals of the Paris Commune, issued 
a socialist leaflet which caused somewhat of a sensation. This 
was followed by the establishment of a newspaper, which lives 
to this day in "The Social Democrat." In the fall of 1871 a 
section of the International was established, and in twelve 
months , time it counted 8000 members. Attention was devoted 
to the organization of trade unions especially, and strikes were 
inaugurated and fought with tangible success to the workers ; 
but after a period of ruthless persecution the movement was 
suppressed in 1873, and the leaders imprisoned. Nevertheless, 
the work went on in the economic field, and in 1878 the various 
unions and associations came together and founded the present 
Social Democratic Union of Denmark, based upon a program of 
the German type. The union embraces two organizations, the 
one political and the other economic, made up of the various 
trade societies. The political side elects two members on the 
general council of the unions, and vice versa. The political or- 
ganization counts 35,000 members, and the trade unions 99,000 ; 
but as some are members of both, the round total would be 
somewhere about the encouraging figure of 1 20,000. 

The fight between the landlords and the great farmers on the 
one hand, and the peasant farmers and agricultural laborers on 
the other, has now become very keen indeed ; in participating 
in which the socialist cause has had an astonishing success, the 
real workers of the land turning to the socialists as their only 
saviours from the rapacity of the land monopolizers. There 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 345 

have been repeated attempts to split up the admirable organiza- 
tion of the party, by the institution of " Christian Socialist " 
parties, and by the anti-parliamentary tactics of a few anarchists ; 
but all these attempts have been miserably abortive ; and the 
Danish party stands out as one of the sturdiest and best-united 
sections of the international movement. 

The socialists were very successful in the elections of 1906, 
as they increased their representation from 16 to 24 in the 
People's Chamber, out of a total of 114 seats, and from one 
to four representatives in the Senate, out of 66 seats. The total 
number of votes polled was 77,000. In the communal elections 
the party has also made great progress, as in 50 towns they have 
either in the council or in municipal posts 450 representatives, 
and 400 in the rural communes. In parliament the group has 
had a decided influence upon social reform. In 189 1 a tax was 
put upon lager beer, a part of the proceeds of which was de- 
voted to the establishment of an old-age pension system, with- 
out any previous payment on the part of the recipients. All over 
60 years of age are entitled to a pension, half of which is paid by 
the state and half by the local authority. The socialists are now 
agitating for a liberal extension of the system. In the matter of 
factory legislation the group have also done excellent work, and 
they are now fighting strenuously for universal and equal suf- 
frage in municipal elections, unemployed legislation, the eight- 
hour day, and for a radical reduction in military expenditure. 
Propaganda is principally by the 25 daily newspapers, of which 
"The Social Democrat " boasts a daily circulation of 55,000. 
Cooperative enterprises are spreading, and at Copenhagen 
the socialists have a bakery, a butchery, and a brewery. 

Holland. — Up to 1870 there was no movement of impor- 
tance in the Netherlands, but when Domela Nieuwenhuis gave 
up his pastorate in the Lutheran Church at the Hague in order 
to preach socialism, the new gospel was received with enthusi- 
asm. The group of pioneers met with as bitter persecution as 
perhaps the socialists have experienced anywhere except in 



346 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Russia. In 1888 Nieuwenhuis, on his release from imprison- 
ment for lese majeste, was elected a member of parliament, and 
so great was the indignation of the bourgeois that one school- 
master made an earnest appeal to the government to strike the 
" red district" represented by the socialist from the map! 
The solitary socialist had a rough time in the assembly, and 
the fact that he could make no headway there made him de- 
spair of parliamentary tactics. He then went to the extreme 
of revolutionary propaganda, and this eventually led to a seces- 
sion from the movement. In 1894 the present Social Demo- 
cratic Party was formed by twelve men, known now as the 
twelve apostles, including the present leader Troelstra. In 
1901 the party ran candidates in 51 out of the hundred elec- 
toral districts, and with a vote of 40,000 they returned seven 
members to parliament, an increase of four on 1897. " Het 
Volk," the chief party organ, has had a considerable influence 
in propaganda. With the gradual decline of agriculture, as 
compared with the oncoming of the capitalist regime, the trade 
unions have developed rapidly, side by side with a young and 
sturdy cooperative movement on the lines of that of Belgium. 
One of the strongest trade unions, which has played a promi- 
nent part in labor battles during recent years, is that of the 
diamond workers, which has Polak for a leader. There have 
been many successful agitations and strikes in the various 
trades, notably in the jute industry, and even among the agri- 
cultural laborers. Workmen's cooperatives, quite distinct from 
the bourgeois, are devoting part of their profits to the political 
and economic fight. Special effort is being made on the ques- 
tion of the eight-hour day, and on universal suffrage. 

The elections of 1905 saw the fall of the much-hated Dr. 
Kuyper, who was the personification of reaction, and the arch- 
enemy of the proletarian movement. So far as the workers 
were concerned it might almost be said that their only desire 
was to defeat this man, at whose hand they had suffered so 
much j and his fall was celebrated with great rejoicing through- 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 347 

out the land. During his ministry he had waged unceasing 
warfare against the workmen's organizations, and by a stroke 
of the pen had taken away the right to strike from the workers 
on the railroads and in the public services. As, however, the 
elections were still under the influence of the Liberals and the 
Clericals, the socialists were unable to get a straight fight upon 
their principles, and they were unable to increase their represen- 
tation, although their vote was 65,743 as against 38,279 in 1901. 
The Clericals held 48 seats and the Liberals 45, and thus the 
socialists are to a certain degree in possession of the balance 
of power, which they use to effect in stimulating social reform. 
Internally the party has been troubled by the syndicalist 
element. Indeed, from its earliest days the Dutch movement 
has been agitated by those of an anarchist tendency; and be- 
cause of their hostile attitude there was recently great danger 
of a disruption of the party. "Het Volk " was charged with 
becoming lax in Marxian principles and with favoring revision- 
ism. However, after a long dispute and much personal bitter- 
ness, the overwhelming majority of the members have supported 
the central committee in a resolution demanding that the 
criticism of the syndicalist section should be kept within 
reasonable limits; and at the congress of 1907 the malcontents 
submitted, a fact that has considerably brightened the outlook 
for socialism in the Netherlands. 

v Switzerland. — During the past few years the Social Demo- 
cratic Party has been passing through tribulation, but the 
members derive much satisfaction from the fact that while the 
political movement has made little headway, there has been a 
wonderful development of trade unions, cooperatives, and local ^ . 
reform societies. V Known as the most democratic country in i^jjf 
the world, Switzerland had very early its radical associations 
and socialist societies. One of the oldest and most powerful 
was the Grutliverein, which dominated the working-class move- 
ment until recent years ; but as most of its leaders were Liberals, 
the result has been similar to that in England : the develop- 



34§ SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

ment of a distinctly socialist party has been comparatively slow. 
Until the quite recent advent of industrialism, there were few 
proletarians ; and possessed of his right to the referendum, the 
individual was not enamoured of political parties. One effect 
of the referendum is that, every important question having to 
be submitted to the populace, it follows that a great amount 
of political education on the subject is necessary, with the re- 
sult that the peasant class especially is inclined to be conserv- 
ative and impatient of politics, and the politician tends to 
become opportunist. 

The Social Democratic Party was founded in 1888, and as 
the Grutliverein had become permeated with socialism, a 
union was effected in 1901, and also with the trade unions. 
Although this amalgamation, bringing in as it did the extensive 
organization and funds of the Grutli, had a strengthening effect 
upon the proletarian movement, its socialism was somewhat 
diluted. There have been many reports as to the sad way 
into which the Swiss socialist party has gotten, but to a large 
extent it is due to the fact that many of the Grutli were merely 
radicals and could not accept the socialist principles in full. 
It is the weeding out of this element that explains very 
largely the apparent weakening of the cause of socialism in 
Switzerland. 

The socialists have done most excellent work in the muni- 
cipal councils, and there are signs on every hand that they 
are gaining the sympathies of the workers. The electoral 
system is open to much fraud, which is unscrupulously prac- 
tised by the capitalist parties to keep the workers from repre- 
sentation in the National Council. At the last election the 
socialists assembled 70,000 votes, by which they claim to have 
won 25 seats, but they were only allowed six/ Recent in- 
quiries have been made into the extent of exploitation of 
child-labor, with the appalling revelation that 53 per cent of 
the children attending school are also employed in laborious 
daily work. The school teachers complain that the mentality 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 349 

is now very low, and that 40 per cent of the children are 
stunted. Capitalism has become intense, and with it an al- 
most savage system of oppression has been instituted by the 
government. ' The fact that there are three different languages 
in the country hinders very much the propaganda of the so- 
cialists, while the anarchist tendency is still strong in the trade 
unions. 

Switzerland has become notorious for the frequency with 
which the soldiery is used against striking workmen, and in 
1906 the socialists held an extraordinary congress to discuss 
the whole military question. Although the military system of 
this country is much belauded in other parts of the world, the 
Swiss socialists passed a resolution declaring themselves in 
accord with all the other socialist parties in the demand for 
the suppression of all acts and means of war, admitting for the 
present the need for a militia exclusively for defensive pur- 
poses. They demanded a guarantee against the gross abuse 
of the employment of soldiers against strikers ; and failing any 
such assurance, they counselled all soldiers to disobey com- 
mands to attack workmen, guaranteeing to indemnify such 
soldiers for any financial charges they might incur, and to 
support their families. To this end a special fund was estab- 
lished. ^ Recently the socialists have been subjected to much 
persecution. The editor of the Zurich daily has been ban- 
ished, and the writer of a leaflet has been sent to prison for 
eight months. 

Spain. — Many attempts were made between 1878 and 1882 
to found a socialist party, but they failed, until Pablo Inglesias, 
who had propagated socialist ideas for many years, founded a 
paper, " El Socialista," in 1888. Then a Socialist Labor Party 
was formed at Barcelona, its program being taken from the 
French and German parties. But ever since the International 
the anarchist spirit had been prevalent, for which no doubt the 
corrupt state of the government, and the apparent hopelessness 
of parliamentary action, were largely responsible. The social- 



550 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

:s:s had this spirit to combat as well as the ordinary difficulties 
of propaganda, but nevertheless they made steady progress, 
and in 1904 they counted 10,000 members, and mustered 
29,000 rotes at the parliamentary elections. 

But the terrible industrial crisis which followed the Philippine 
and Cuban wars has had a discouraging effect upon the social- 
is: : realizations as well as upon the trade unions. Trade is 
at a standstill, and whole villages have been de- 
serted. Another reason for the backwardness of the proleta- 
rian movement is the illiteracy of the people. Out of 9,08.7,821 
men 5,086,056 can either not read or write, and of 9.530,265 
women no less than 6,806,834 are illiterates. In the year 
1902 alone, all together 51.5 93 people emigrated, about half of 
these to America. Nevertheless, despite the enormous power 
exercised by the clergy over the ignorant, there has been an 
encouraging growth of a republican spirit. The socialist party 
now only counts 6000 members, but it is working in very cor- 
dial relations with the general union of workmen, whose mem- 
bership totals 34,537 as against 56,905 before the industrial 
crisis. There is a section of anarchists, but the unions are 
directed and the tactic is determined by the socialists. 

Government, both central and local, is in a parlous condi- 
tion. The universal suffrage, the self-government, the funda- 
mental liberties, exist on paper only ; and the bureaucracy is 
dominant. Terrorism has existed for some time at Barcelona, 
and it has been proved that the authors of bomb outrages were 
the police themselves. At the parliamentary election in 1907, 
the bureaucracy received an unexpected blow. What was known 
as the solidarity movement, originating in the department of 
Catalonia, resulted in a large number of members being returned 
pledged to fight for autonomy in local government. But during 
ear the government have put forward measures revising 
the system of local government, which are only underhand 
blows at universal suffrage. The bureaucracy has for a time 
strengthened its hold in the comm ;,nd it is calculated 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 35 1 

that it is well-nigh impossible for workmen to elect their own 
representatives in a majority of these local bodies. 

Bulgaria. — The Socialist Party was founded in 1894, and 
in 1902 obtained seven seats in parliament, with 20,307 votes, 
but in the following year lost them all. This was partly due to 
the terrorism exercised over the electors by the government, 
but principally to a very serious split in the ranks of the social- 
ists. Up to quite recently the membership consisted for the 
most part of the educated classes and petty bourgeois, while 
the proletarian workers were in a small minority. It was de- 
clared that because of this character of the movement the 
party was nothing more than a seat-hunting body for the bour- 
geois, who had abandoned the principles of the class struggle. 
Some of the opportunists, as they were called, advocated the col- 
laboration of classes, while the other section demanded that the 
movement should be kept on strictly Marxian lines. The oppor- 
tunists repudiated the charges of their opponents, but never- 
theless a split took place in 1903, and up to the present there 
are at work two distinct socialist parties. As a consequence 
the cause makes but slow progress in Bulgaria, so far as repre- 
sentation on public bodies is concerned. 

Servia. — The Erfurt program was adopted as the basis of the 
Social Democratic Labor Party, founded in 1903. There had 
been an active trade union movement since late in the eighties, 
but because of the unrest and disturbances leading up to the 
coup d'etat in 1903, there had been little work of a political 
character, the authorities doing their utmost to stamp out any 
organization. The socialists had hardly got started when the 
annual parliamentary election was upon them. However, they 
put forward candidates, and despite the very limited suffrage, 
they elected one member. In 1905 they won two seats, but in 
1906 they could again only secure one, although their votes had 
increased. In the communal elections they have done much 
better. The membership of the party at the end of 1906 was 
1400, and they work in perfect harmony with the trade unions. 



352 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

They are now concentrating on the fight for universal suf- 
frage. 

Poland. — Of twenty million Poles, ten million are upon 
Russian territory, four in Austria, and three and a half in Prus- 
sia, while the rest are scattered all over the world. Hence the 
Polish Socialist Party is divided into three sections. In Russia 
such are the oppression and secret methods of the government 
that extreme precaution has to be exercised in admitting people 
to membership. Under such circumstances the formation of 
trade unions is difficult, but nevertheless the socialists were the 
guiding spirits in a whole series of strikes from 1899 to 1903, 
with more or less tangible results to the strikers. And then the 
industrial crisis almost brought about the suspension of the move- 
ment. During the recent years, however, the propaganda has 
been very effective, extending to the rural workers, where the 
socialists have the opposition of the nationalists and the clergy, 
who do not hesitate to assist the police against them. Much is 
made of the First of May in Warsaw, and the custom has ex- 
tended of utilizing the funerals of socialists for demonstrations. 
It is not infrequent that scores of the mourners are afterward 
lodged in jail. The Austrian section is largely in Galicia, a 
country still under a regular feudal system, and where the 
people die of starvation by the thousand. The socialists were, 
of course, much agitated over the revolutionary happenings in 
Russia, and at a great demonstration in Krakow the portrait 
of the Czar was burnt. In the subsequent police riot many 
people were wounded. Incidentally the chief of the police 
had his ears soundly boxed! Even in Prussia the Poles are 
subjected to severe persecution, and in the endeavor of the 
authorities to crush out all national characteristics, the children 
are imprisoned if they are discovered studying their own 
language or literature. The consequence is that the intellectual 
development of the Poles in Prussia is being arrested. A Pole 
arriving from Warsaw or Krakow is a suspect, merely because 
he is a Pole. Nevertheless, the socialists carry on an active 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 353 

propaganda, and the party cooperates enthusiastically with the 
German socialists. There is a branch of the party in America. 

Japan. — In 1897 a socialist agitation was commenced by 
Sen Katayama, who was present at the Amsterdam Congress in 
1904, but at almost every meeting he was stopped by the' 
police, who kept pace with his movements everywhere. How- 
ever, he engineered several successful strikes. In 1901, a 
Social Democratic Party was started in Tokio, and was im- 
mediately suppressed. Another effort, a month later, was also 
suppressed ; but a third attempt, when a program was adopted 
on the lines of the Communist Manifesto, was more successful, 
and the movement took root. The spread of socialist ideas 
has been accelerated by the feverish growth of capitalism and the 
industrial crisis following the war. Several socialist newspapers 
were started, of which " Hikari " has played a prominent part. 
Kotoku and Nishikawa, the editors of one of the journals, were 
sentenced to imprisonment, and the journal suppressed. In 
1906 Tokio was for several days in a state of civil war conse- 
quent upon a socialist agitation against the shameless exploi- 
tation of the people by the tramway monopolists. Latterly the 
government has redoubled its persecution, the recently started 
daily newspaper has been suppressed, and for the time being 
the socialists have decided to carry on their propaganda in a 
secret manner. Socialism is undoubtedly spreading fast, es- 
pecially among the more intelligent of the populace and the 
students. 

Chili. — As early as 1850 Francisco Bilbao propagated ideas 
of equality, and founded a Society of Equality ; and for his 
pains he was condemned as a blasphemer and exiled. The 
year 1887 saw the establishment of the Democratic Party, 
which is socialist in character, and has recently expressed a 
desire to become affiliated with the International. The men 
who started the movement were subjected to much persecu- 
tion, which is continued up to the present, as quite recently 
the editor of the official journal was condemned to eighteen 

2A 



334 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

months' imprisonment, which he avoided by leaving the 
country. Because of the revolution of 1891 there was a check 
in the work of the party, but afterward it resumed with greater 
vigor, and in 1894 scored its first political success by electing 
a deputy at Valparaiso. In 1906 there were six members 
elected, and the socialist vote totalled 18,000. Eighty repre- 
sentatives were elected in the municipalities, and in five towns 
the socialists were in a majority. A significant feature of the 
present situation in Chili is that the government cannot get 
sufficient men to join the police, and not 20 per cent of the 
conscripts present themselves for sendee in the army. 

Argentina. — Notwithstanding the heterogeneous character of 
the population, and the illiteracy of the poorer classes, socialism 
is making considerable progress in the Argentine Republic. 
The Socialist Party was established at Buenos Ayres in 1896, 
when a program was adopted similar to those in Europe, but mod- 
ified to local necessities. At the beginning of 1907 there were 
more than 3000 members. The weekly paper " Vanguardia " 
has a circulation of 6000. The electoral system is corrupted 
and abused by the landowners, but nevertheless the socialist 
vote has increased from 1254 in 1904 to 3500 in 1906. One 
socialist deputy was elected in 1904 for four years. There are 
two or three federations of trade unions, one of which is dis- 
tinctly anarchistic. 

Australasia. — Geographical isolation, and the tolerably com- 
fortable condition of the workers, account in a great measure 
for the tardy appearance of socialism in Australia. Up to 
1890, the year of the great maritime strike, there was no polit- 
ical movement among working men, but in their defeat on that 
occasion they learned a severe lesson. In the following year 
they signalized their entrance into independent politics by 
electing a large number of labor members to the various state 
parliaments. At this time the Australian Socialist League, 
founded in 1887. did excellent propaganda. In 1892 there was 
a congress at Sydney for the purpose of uniting the various 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 355 

socialist bodies that had sprung up in different states, but by 
1896 this had disappeared. The labor movement fought shy 
of socialism, wnhe the question of protection versus free trade 
has hindered progress generally. However, during the past 
few years quiet work has been done by the Socialist League in 
South Wales, the Social Democratic Party in Victoria, the 
Social Democratic Vanguard in Queensland, the Social Demo- 
cratic Federation in Western Australia, and the Clarion Fellow- 
ship in Adelaide. Tom Mann, formerly of England, has been 
the guiding spirit at Melbourne, giving up work with the Politi- 
cal Labor Council about two years ago to go for out-and-out 
socialism. As an incident in the socialists' fight for free speech 
Mann was sentenced to five weeks in jail. In New South 
Wales especially, as the result of Mann's work, there is now an 
excellent and virile organization, with a socialist Sunday school 
in Melbourne that is doing good work. 

The trade union movement is very strong, and signs are 
multiplying that it is becoming permeated with the spirit of 
the class struggle. To a certain extent the Labor Party have 
been forced to come out into the open because of being 
labelled socialists by their opponents ; and at the Interstate 
Labor Convention in 1905, the following was decided upon 
as an objective: "The securing of the full results of their in- 
dustry to all producers by collective ownership of monopolies, 
and the extension of the industrial and economic functions of 
the state." $The Labor Party have over a third of the repre- 
sentatives in the various parliaments, 4 large proportion of 
whom are avowed socialists, and in the Federal Parliament, 
where for five months in 1904 they were in power, two-thirds 
of the labor men are socialists. 

! So far as socialistic legislation is concerned, New Zealand 
is far ahead of any other country. They have universal 
suffrage for men and women, graduated land and income taxes, 
drastic factory laws, conciliation laws, old-age pensions, etc., 
but it is nevertheless a fact that at present there is much dis- 



356 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

content among the industrial workers, and the country is 
being troubled by the problem of unemployment. Attempts 
are being made to get the labor organizations to adopt a 
socialist platform. 

Canada. — During the eighties much excellent propaganda 
was done by numerous socialist parties and leagues in this 
vast and sparsely populated country, especially in British 
Columbia; but it was not until the end of 1904 that the 
Canadian Socialist Party was founded. Notwithstanding the 
fact that Canada is but a new country, a large proportion of 
the inhabitants are industrial proletarians, and socialism has 
therefore found fertile soil. In February, 1907, the party 
succeeded in electing three socialist members to the parliament 
of British Columbia, and in other cases they were only just 
beaten by a few votes. In Toronto the party is also very active, 
especially in the municipal elections. The trade union move- 
ment is strong, but although socialistically inclined, is not yet 
disposed to declare straight out for socialism. So that at the 
twenty-second annual Trades and Labor Congress, held 
in Victoria, it was decided to form an independent Labor 
Party, and to work after the manner of the Labor Party in 
England. 

America. — Because of its cheap land and political liberty 
America was for the first half of last century the experimental 
ground for all manner of communist and political schemes. 
The number of communities and brotherhoods established, 
each with its own particular panacea, amounted to several 
hundreds. The Owenite, Icarian, and Fourieristic movements 
attained large proportions, and in particular the latter attracted 
the sympathy and active support of many prominent writers 
and public men. But all these experiments had little or no 
effect upon the modern socialist movement, and after the 
Civil War there was hardly anything left of their various 
organizations. For some time the whole country was absorbed 
in repairing the effects of the war, industry flourished in an 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 357 

unprecedented manner, and the people generally were too 
busy for politics. In 1870 there was a great scarcity of labor, 
but it only needed a few years of the feverish industrialism 
which prevailed to bring about crises which resulted in a 
permanent standing army of a million unemployed workmen. 
( ( There are many things which would account for what 
might be called the backwardness of the socialist movement 
in America. It might be said that the transition from a com- 
paratively prosperous state of affairs to one of industrial 
anarchy, with its concomitant of surplus labor, has been too 
swift to allow of the people acquiring that spirit of class-con- 
sciousness out of which have grown the socialist movements of 
Europe. And, with its " democratic " institutions, there has 
been no such common cause as the fight for the suffrage, 
which has been so much of a unifying and educational force 
among the proletariat of other countries. Again, the vastness 
of the country has been a great drawback. There has cer- 
tainly not been union among the socialists themselves, but it 
is very easy to overstate the retarding effect of such want of 
unity. Undoubtedly the principal obstacle has been that, 
while numerous exotic socialist societies have sprung up during 
the last fifty years as a consequence of the presence in Amer- 
ica of a population of widely different nationalities, the very 
difference of language and characteristics of the immigrants 
has militated against a union of the workers. Even when they 
had been brought together in trade unions, they displayed, up 
to quite recently, a positively hostile attitude toward political 
action. So that, fully considered, it must be said that in face 
of such formidable difficulties, in what they have accomplished 
up to the present, the socialists of America have done remark- 
ably good work. 

In the early seventies a number of sections of the Interna- 
tional Working Men's Association were started, mainly by im- 
migrants and political refugees from Europe ; and when the 
seat of the Central Council of the International was removed 



358 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

to America a short time before its decease, there was an active 
period of socialist propaganda, which was accelerated by the 
spreading industrial depression. In 1876 the various organiza- 
tions were brought together, and the Working Men's Party of 
the United States was founded, changing its name a year later 
to the Socialist Labor Party of North America. For twenty 
years this was the chief organization in the socialist movement. 
As not more than ten per cent of the membership were native 
Americans, the young party was confronted by the gigantic task 
of " naturalizing" the heterogeneous elements, and progress was 
inevitably slow. An attempt was made to convert the rapidly 
growing trade union movement, but the socialists received any- 
thing but encouragement from the union leaders. Failing to 
make any impression, therefore, a section of the socialists de- 
clared that it was not worth while troubling about the trade 
unions. Following strictly independent tactics the socialist 
party participated in elections, but it was only during temporary 
periods of unsettled trade conditions that they polled any con- 
siderable vote. It seemed as if the workers would only give 
attention to politics when they were on " short time " or out of 
work altogether. By 1878 the membership of the Socialist 
Labor Party had grown to 10,000, but during the subsequent 
trade depression it dwindled to about 2000. Eight papers 
in English which had been started did not survive above 
a year, but the "New Yorker Volkzeitung" has continued 
until it is to-day the leading German socialist newspaper in 
America. 

For several years the energies of the party were taken up in 
fighting the vigorous anarchist movement which was developing. 
Various revolutionary clubs had come together and formed the 
Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1881, finding a popular leader 
in John Most, who had been excluded from the German Social 
Democratic Party, and had served terms of imprisonment in 
Germany, Austria, and England because of his revolutionary 
writings. The movement was transformed into the International 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 359 

Working People's Association, on a basis of " social revolution- 
ism/' and with its main strength in Chicago. The depletion of 
the membership of the Socialist Labor Party, which in 1883 
hardly counted 1500, was due in a great measure to the new 
organization, in which the workers thought they had found a 
more effective instrument for the achievement of better con- 
ditions of life. Vain attempts were made to unite the two 
bodies, and a bitter fight ensued. Manifestoes and counter- 
manifestoes were issued, and the socialists declared, ''We do not 
share the folly of the men who consider dynamite bombs as the 
best means of agitation." Meanwhile both parties had an ac- 
cession of members, the "International" in 1885 having a 
membership of 7000. 

In that year the American Federation of Labor, the principal 
organization of trade unions, revived the agitation for an eight- 
hour day. In this the revolutionary party took a prominent 
lead in Chicago. There were many collisions with the police 
and riots, culminating in the memorable Haymarket affair. 
A squad of police suddenly presented themselves at the finish 
of a meeting, and just outside the hall a bomb was thrown 
among them, killing one and wounding others. Indiscriminate 
shooting ensued, and besides numerous wounded, seven police- 
men and four civilians were killed. The leaders of the " In- 
ternational " w r ere tried for murder, and although not the 
remotest connection could be established between the defend- 
ants and the bomb-throwing, August Spies, Samuel Fielden, 
Michael Schwab, Albert R. Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George 
Engel, and Louis Lingg were sentenced to death. In the case 
of Schwab and Fielden the sentence was commuted, Lingg 
committed suicide in prison, and the other four were hanged. 
The Haymarket affair was the end of the International Working 
People's Association. 

In 1886, extensive lecture tours by Wilhelm Liebknecht 
and Eleanor Marx Aveling, the daughter of Karl Marx, did 
much to aid the growth of the Socialist Labor Party. Politically, 



360 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

the socialists had a very chequered career. At first they had 
declared for the abolition of the position of President : f 
United States, but in 18S0 they allied themse'. 7: 
Greenbackers, a party 7 originally founded upon a program of cnr- 
rency reform, on their adopting a socialistic platform; but 
after the presidential election the alliance was dissolved. In 
1 886 the lively campaign of Henry George ir " " . 
supported by the socialists, although they did not accept his 
views. It was a painful lesson for them, and they resumed their 
independent attitude. In 1S92 they made their first presidential 
nomination, and their vote gradually increased until in 3 
they polled 82,204. 

Meanwhile the economic organizations of the mwkeis were 
making rapid strides. The Knights of Labor, establish e: ::: 
the uniting of the trade unions, in order "to secure for the 
workers the full enjoyment of the wealth tr. 7 
until in 1886 it had over half a million men 
due in great measure to the " strike fever-* 9 
however, began shortly afterward, until now there are but 
a few thousand adherents. Another organization of unions 
which had started in 1881, was five years later transformed into 
the American Federation of Labor, with Samuel Gomper: 
first president. Iz 2 y~ :.: 5 z.zz.t :: counted a members >:: 
618,000, and at the present day, something over 2,000,000 
members are affiliated. The Federation would ::.: zzigto 

do with politics, and the leaders especially res::5 : e : r : ; : r 
attempts made from time to time by socialists to obtain 2 . 
ration of socialist principles. 

The Socialist Labor Party now assumed an attitude of bitter 
hostility 7 toward the trade union movement and in a resolution 
passed in 1896 declared that the trade union organizations 
were " hopelessly corrupt" With the idea of dr.: . : r ; : : 
Federation the large number of unionise ~ e re s rx 
inclined, a Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was founded; 
but it only accentuated the difficulties, and far from alilriuingUfr 



ismtegratjon, 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 36 1 

object, it was the means of splitting up the Socialist Labor 
Party itself. 

In 1897 a new movement had been started under the title of 
the Social Democracy of America, primarily to further colo- 
nizing schemes. It grew in numbers, but two years later split 
upon the question of colonization versus political action. The yS* 
politicians, headed by Victor L. Berger, were in a minority, and 
seceded in order to establish the Social Democratic Party of 
America. The new party included Eugene V. Debs, who had 
come into prominence as the organizer of the great railroad 
strike, as an incident of which he had served six months in jail. 
Terms of unity with the pro-union section of the Socialist Labor 
Party were discussed, and amalgamation had been almost com- 
pleted when there was division in the ranks of the Social Dem- 
ocrats. Thus both the social parties were split. It had been 
agreed, however, that Eugene V. Debs, of the Social Democrats, 
should be nominated for President of the United States, with 
Job Harriman, of the Socialist Labor Party, as Vice-President, 
and during the campaign much of the bitterness between the 
various sections was wiped out; and under the name of "The 
Socialist Party," they were united at a convention held in Indian- 
apolis, in July, 1901, when it was reckoned that about 10,000 
members were affiliated. 

From that day the Socialist Party has steadily grown, while 
the influence of the senior party has rapidly declined.^ The 
Socialist Party has now about 35,000 members who pay dues of 
three dollars a year each. At the presidential election of 1904, 
when Debs was again nominated, the socialist poll was 409,230, 
as against 223,494 in 1902. The socialist press has increased 
enormously, and now numbers over fifty journals. Half of these 
are in English, eight are in German, of which two are dailies, 
four in Yiddish, as well as papers for Finns, Italians, Hungarians, 
Czechs, Poles, Letts, Lithuanians, Slavs, and Swedes. The So- 
cialist Labor Party has published "The People " daily for four 
years, and the Socialist Party is now represented among dailies 



362 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

by " The Chicago Daily Socialist." Of the weeklies, " The Ap- 
peal to Reason " has a circulation of about 300,000. '/ 

Undoubtedly, of recent years, the cause of socialism has 
made considerable progress, and the most encouraging sign is 
the fairly rapid permeation that is going on in the trade unions. 
Many large organizations have definitely endorsed the socialist 
program. These unions have a total membership of 350,000, 
but in addition there are many big unions having a large pro- 
portion of socialists who have not passed resolutions. Reports 
are multiplying of the strong tendency toward socialism that 
is manifesting itself throughout the whole economic movement, 
and at least twenty of the trade union journals are consistent 
advocates for the cause. A large number of brilliant journalists 
and university men are sympathetic, and there is an Inter- 
collegiate Socialist Society, which exercises a considerable in- 
fluence in a quiet way in the universities. In 1905, Mrs. 
Carrie Rand left a large sum of money for the establishment of an 
institution for the teaching of socialism and the social sciences, 
and the Rand School of Social Sciences in New York is now 
occupying an important place in the advance of socialism. 

Special mention must be made of the achievements of the 
socialists in the state of Wisconsin, and especially in Milwaukee. 
In the State Legislature the six socialist members have intro- 
duced no less than 7 2 measures of industrial and political reform, 
about a fourth of which have been put on the stutute book. 
They have got established an eight-hour day for telegraphers, and 
important modifications in child labor laws. In the Milwaukee 
City Council the party has twelve socialist aldermen, and among 
other things, they have got established a public electric light- 
ing system, secured a three-cent fare on a part of the street-car 
system, and an increased tax on street railway property. 

The story of the attempt to put to death Haywood, Moyer, 
and Pettibone, officials of the Western Miners' Federation, is too 
fresh in the public mind to need more than mentioning. Not 
only did the affair attract world-wide attention, but it had a 



THE MOVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES 363 

wonderful effect upon the whole working-class movement of 
America. Taken in conjunction with the recent setting aside 
by the law courts of much protective labor legislation, and the 
aggressive action of employers' associations and citizen alliances, 
it has done much to teach the workers the necessity for united 
political action. The unprecedented industrial depression, 
with the appalling number of unemployed, is having its inevita- 
ble effect, — the trade union organizations are turning to inde- 
pendent, class-conscious politics. And signs are multiplying 
of a decidedly unifying force throughout the whole socialist and 
labor movement. 



A FEW AUTHORITIES 

There is an extensive literature upon the program of socialism. 
" Modern Socialism," edited by R. C. K. Ensor (Harper Brothers, 
1904), is a collection of the speeches and writings of the foremost 
socialists, and includes programs and documents of fundamental 
importance. u Socialism and Social Reform," by Richard T. Ely 
(Crowell and Co., 1894), covers somewhat the same field. It is less 
authoritative, but reviews the main doctrines of socialism, and in- 
cludes in an appendix some important programs, manifestoes, and 
other official papers. " The Fabian Tracts " deal with a wide range 
of subjects and give the attitude of the English socialists upon 
nearly all questions of municipal and industrial reform. "Le 
Socialisme Francais," by A. Millerand (Paris, 1903), and a bio- 
graphical sketch, "L'CEuvre de Millerand," by A. Lavy, express 
pretty fully the attitude of the French reformists. " Essais Social- 
istes " by Emile Vandervelde (Paris, 1906), gives the socialist 
position in regard to alcoholism, religion, and other matters. Per- 
haps the most important volumes treating critically the program of 
socialism are " Socialisme Theorique et Socialdemocratie Pratique," 
by Ed. Bernstein (Paris, 1903), and " Le Marxisme," by Karl Kautsky 
(Paris, 1900). No one who is interested in socialism should fail 
to read with care the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels 
(Kerr and Co., Chicago), and an interesting critique by Marx upon 
the socialist program, " A Propos d'Unite, — lettre sur le programme 
de Gotha" (Paris, 1901). 

The attitude of socialists upon agrarian questions is not well 
defined. There are, however, several books by prominent socialists 
which can be consulted ; notably " La Question Agraire," by Karl 
Kautsky (Paris, 1900), and "La Politique Agraire" (Paris, 1900), 
by the same author ; " Le Socialisme et PAgriculture," by G. Gatti 
(Paris, 1902); "The American Farmer," by A. M. Simons (Kerr 
and Co.) ; and " La Question Agraire en Belgique," by Emile Van- 
dervelde. With regard to militarism, two interesting books are 

364 



A FEW AUTHORITIES 365 

"Leur Patrie," by Gustave Herve, and " Militarismus und Anti- 
militarismus," by Dr. Karl Liebknecht (Leipzig, 1907). 

By far the most important contributions upon the details of the 
socialist program are the thousands of pamphlets and tracts issued 
for propaganda purposes by the various national parties. These 
can be obtained of socialist publishers, or at the national offices 
of the parties. For France they can be got at 16, rue de la Cor- 
derie, Paris ; Germany, Buchhandlung Vorwarts, Berlin, SW, 68, 
Lindenstrasse ; Belgium, " Maison du Peuple," rue Joseph Stevens, 
Brussels ; America, Charles Kerr and Co., 264 East Kinzie Street, 
Chicago ; and in England, of the Labor Party, 28, Victoria Street, 
London, S.W. ; the Social Democratic Party, 37 a, Clerkenwell Green, 
London, E.C. ; and the Independent Labor Party, 23, Bride Lane, 
Fleet Street, London, E.C. 

Upon the doctrines of socialism, three important books for gen- 
eral readers are written by non-socialists — " Socialism," by Werner 
Sombart (Putnams, 1898); "The Quintessence of Socialism," by 
Dr. A. Schaeffle (Scribner's Sons); and "An Inquiry into Social- 
ism," by Thomas Kirkup (Longmans, Green and Co., 1887). 

The partisan view is expressed with extreme simplicity in " From 
Serfdom to Socialism," by J. Keir Hardie (George Allen, London), 
as well as in " Merrie England " and u Britain for the British," by 
Robert Blatchford (Kerr and Co.) ; while "The Cooperative Com- 
monwealth," by Laurence Gronlund (Boston, 1900) ; " Socialism," by 
John Spargo (Macmillan, 1906); "The Social Revolution," by 
Karl Kautsky, and "Collectivism," by Emile Vandervelde (Kerr 
and Co.), are all important contributions. " Studies in Socialism," 
by Jean Jaures (Putnams, 1906), "Principes Socialistes," by Gabriel 
Deville (Paris, 1898), and the Fabian Essays (London, 1904), will 
also be found helpful to the general reader. 

"The Economic Interpretation of History," which is a basic doc- 
trine in the socialist philosophy, is fully elaborated by Professor 
E. R. A. Seligman, a non-socialist (Macmillan, 1903). "Essays on 
the Materialistic Conception of History," by Antonio Labriola 
(Kerr and Co., 1904), and "Economic Foundations of Society," by 
Achille Loria (Scribne^s Sons, 1899), are books in the same field. 
The historic basis of socialism is treated in a powerful sketch by 
Frederick Engels, "Socialism, Utopian and Scientific" (Scribner's, 
1892) ; and in " Historic Basis of Socialism in England," by H. M. 



366 SOCIALISTS AT WORK 

Hyndman (London, 1883), and "Commercial Crises of the Nine- 
teenth Century" (Scribner's, 1892), by the same author. 

Socialist economics is extensively treated in nearly all of the 
above volumes ; but the special student should consult " Capital," 
by Karl Marx. The first two volumes are translated into English 
(Kerr and Co.). A rapid review of the doctrines of the first volume 
is made by Edward Aveling in " The Student's Marx " (Scribner's, 
1902) . Other books are " Economics of Socialism," by H. M. Hynd- 
man (London, 1896), and "Landmarks of Scientific Socialism," by 
Frederick Engels (Kerr and Co., 1907). 

Necessarily the chapter on "Socialism and Social Reform" is 
based very largely upon current events, and much of the material 
comes from the various socialist newspapers, journals, magazines, 
and official publications. These are altogether too numerous to be 
mentioned, but the most important are " The Labour Leader," " The 
Clarion," and "Justice," in England ; "Le Peuple" and " Le Mouve- 
ment Communale," in Belgium ; " L'Humanite," " Le SociaHste," and 
"Le Mouvement SociaHste," in France ; "Vorwarts " and " Die Neue 
Zeit," in Germany; "Avanti," in Italy ; and "The International Socialist 
Review," Chicago. The attitude of the socialists toward social re- 
form, as expressed in the decisions of the International congresses, 
is very clearly worked out in " La Tactique SociaHste," by Edgar 
Milhaud (Paris, 1905). The respective opinions of the revisionists 
and the Marxists on this matter are expressed by Bernstein and 
Kautsky in the books mentioned above. The renaissance in the 
Latin countries of the Proudhonian view is best expressed by the 
various organs of the new syndicalism, and by a valuable collection of 
documents upon " La Greve Generate et le Socialisme," edited by 
Hubert Lagardelle (Paris). The opposite view is given in a bro- 
chure by Karl Kautsky, "Politique et Syndicats" (Paris, 1903), and 
the current combat against this tendency can be followed in the new 
journal edited by Jules Guesde, "Le Socialisme." The Fabian 
position is clearly stated in the Fabian Tract No. 70, and also in an 
extremely interesting pamphlet, " The Fabian Society ; its early his- 
tory," by G. Bernard Shaw. 

There is no book describing the organization and standing of the 
socialist parties throughout Europe. Professor Edgar Milhaud, of 
Geneva, has written an extremely interesting study of the German 
movement, "La De'mocracie SociaHste Allemande" (Paris, 1903). 



A FEW AUTHORITIES 367 

J. Destree and Emile Vandervelde have issued a complete review of 
the progress of the Belgian movement, " Le Socialisme en Belgique," 
while Louis Bertrand has given in two volumes each, " Histoire de 
la Co-operation en Belgique " and u Histoire de la Democratic et du 
Socialisme." Paul Louis has prepared three studies, " Histoire du 
Socialisme Francais," " Les Etapes du Socialisme," and " L'Avenir 
du Socialisme." An interesting volume by a non-socialist is 
" Essais sur le Mouvement Ouvrier en France M by Daniel 
Halevy (Paris, 1901). Sidney Webb's " History of Trades Union- 
ism in England " barely touches the movement of the last twenty 
years. 

By far the most important sources of information are, of course, 
the reports of the proceedings of the various congresses, national 
and international. Some of them are very difficult to obtain, but 
there may be mentioned the reports of the German Social Demo- 
cratic Party from 1880 to 1906; of the general congresses of French 
socialist organizations from 1899 to 1902; of the Parti Socialiste 
(Section Francaise de lTnternationale Ouvriere) from 1905 to 1907 ; 
of the congresses of the Belgian Labor Party from 1886; of the 
British Labor Party from 1900; and of the International Congresses 
at Paris, Brussels, Zurich, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Stuttgart, 
A most useful little book is the collection of the agendas and reso- 
lutions of the International Congresses up to that at Amsterdam. 
" LTnternationale ; documents et souvenirs," by James Guillaume 
(Paris, 1905). is anti -Marxist, but contains a resume of nearly all the 
official documents issued by the first International. Enormous and 
very difficult to consult is a multitude of biographical studies of the 
leaders and militants of the movement. Mention might be made, 
however, of "Karl Marx," by Wilhelm Liebknecht (Kerr and Co.) ; 
"Wilhelm Liebknecht," by Kurt Eisner (Berlin, 1906); u LEn- 
ferme." by Gustave Geffroy, a thrilling study of Blanqui ; " German 
Socialism and Lassalle " and " Bismarck and State Socialism," by 
William H. Dawson (Scribners) ; "Ferdinand Lassalle and Social 
Reform," by Edward Bernstein (Scribner's) ; "Memoire d'un Com- 
munard," by Jean Allemane (Paris) ; " Life of William Morris," by 
J. W. Mackail (Longmans, 1901), and " Bernard Shaw," by Hol- 
brook Jackson (Jacobs and Co., Philadelphia, 1907). 



INDEX 



Adler, Victor, 76, 252, 323, 334. 
Agrarianism, 200, 329. 
Alcoholism, 199. 
Allemane, Jean, 65, 68, 82. 
Allen, Grant, 96, 263. 
America, 10, 27, 81, 144, 171, 180, 
185, 188, 208, 217, 219, 311, 356. 
Amicis, De, 32, 263. 
Amsterdam Congress, 75, 97, 203, 

3 l8 > 3*9- 
Anakine, 254. 
Anarchism and anarchists, 59, 61, 

67, I 55, 236, 302, 305, 309, 359. 
Anseele,^, 133, 139, 147. 
Antisemites, 14. 
Arbitration, 6. 
Argentina, 311, 354. 
Arnold, Matthew, 259, 262, 316. 
Astor, Mr., 167. 
Atheism, 231. 
Auer, 8. 

Australia, 311, 354. 
Austria, 183, 189, 202, 212, 310, 332. 
Aveling, Edward, 224. 

Babceuf, 314. 

Bakounine, Michael, 41, 65, 66, 

137, 261, 262, 305, 327. 
Ballot, Second, 216. 
Bax, Belfort, 89. 
Bebel, 2, 6, 8, 12, 13, 23, 24, 26, 48, 

75, 76, 77, 201, 214, 221, 224, 

309, 311, 323. 
Beesley, Professor, 88, 261. 
Belfast Congress, no. 
Belgium, 8, 10, 34, 81, 128, 183, 189, 

*93i 195, I 97, i99» 2 ° 2 - 
Bellamy, Edward, 288. 
Belmont, Mr., 180. 
Berger, Victor, 361. 
Berlin, 204. 
Bernstein, Edward, 168, 200, 203. 

2B 369 



Bertrand, Louis, 129, 133, 138, 141. 
Besant, Mrs. Annie, 93. 
Beveren, Van, 133. 
Biesbroeck, Van, 263, 265. 
Bismarck, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 214, 

221, 223, 224, 227, 233, 234, 310. 
Blanc, Louis, 205, 314. 
Bland, Hubert, 89. 
Blanqui, 59. 

Blanquists, 58, 65, 68, 303, 309. 
Blatchford, Robert, 99, 114, 233. 
Bradford, 103, 105. 
Bradlaugh, 88. 
Brazil, 311. 
Breslau, 185. 

Briand, Aristide, 85, 86, 206, 250. 
Brismee, Desire, 132. 
Brouckere, Louis de, 130, 138. 
Brousse, Paul, 65, 66, 68. 
Brussels, 130, 133, 134, 204. 
Bryan, William, 251. 
Buchner, 6. 

Buelow, Von, 14, 16, 214, 257. 
Bulgaria, 351. 
Burne- Jones, 284. 
Burns, John, 48, 89, 90, 92, 93, 97, 

100, 101, 206. 
Burrows, Herbert, 89, 93, 114. 

Cabet, 314. 

Campbell-Bannerman, 257. 

Canada, 356. 

Capital punishment, 6. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 259, 260, 262, 299. 

Carpenter, Edward, 89, 104, 263. 

Cattelli, 32. 

Chambers of Labor, 36. 

Champion, 90. 

Charlottenberg, 185. 

Chemnitz, 194. 

Chiaruggi, 32. 

Chicago, 43. 



37° 



INDEX 



Chiesa, Pietro, 33. 
Child labor, 6, 30, 136, 178. 
Chili, 353. 

Christianity, 135, 294, 295. 
Christian Socialists, 96. 
" Clarion," 99. 

Class struggle, 154, 244. See Pref- 
ace. 
Clemenceau, 65, 85, 215, 238, 245, 

257. 
Clement, J. B., 65. 
Clericals, 14, 16, 20, 51, 141. 
Cologne, 8, 194. 

Colonial policy, 200 ; in Germany, 18. 
Colorado, 43, 213. 
Commune, the Paris, 59, 72. 
Communist Alliance, 155. 
Communist Manifesto, 162, 300. 
Compensation, 228. 
Confiscation, 125, 232, 240. 
Considerant, 314. 
Cooperation, 58, 60, 138, 139, 141, 

145, 147, 2 9 8 - 
Corruption, 43, 44, 179, 181, 182. 
Costa, Andrea, 41. 
Cowen, Joseph, 88. 
Crane, Walter, 89, 263. 
Creches, 197. 
Crefeld, 185. 
Crises, commercial, 160. 
Crispi, 39, 42. 
Crooks, Will, 230. 
Curran, Pete, 113, 116. 

D'Annunzio, 32. 
David, 334. 

Davidson, Professor, 89. 
Debs, Eugene V., 361. 
Decentralization, 67. 
Degroux, Charles, 265. 
Delory, Gustave, 79. 
Denmark, 34, 310, 344. 
Dest.ree, Jules, 138. 
Deville, Gabriel, 309. 
Diike, Sir Charles, 88. 
Dock strike, 94. 
Dreyfus affair, 72, 238, 249. 
Drink traffic, 199. 
DuBois, 265. 
Duma, the, 253, 330. 
Diisseldorf, 185. 



Eeden, Frederick van, 291. 
Emilia, 35. 

Engels, Frederick, 154, 160, 241, 
261, 262, 300, 302, 307, 311, 

England, 8, 10, 22, 48, 52, 81, 128, 
171, 184, 188, 211, 216, 233, 235, 

3° 2 » 3 11 , 3*5- 
Erfurt program, 169. 
Evolution, economic, see Chapter 

VI. 
Expropriation, 240, 241, 244. 

Fabian Society and Fabianism, 89, 

93, 94, 96, 98, ico, 105, 109, 188, 

191, 199, 203, 207, 208. 
Factory legislation, 187. 
Feeding of school children, 116, 

197, 230. 
Ferrero, 32. 
Ferri, 31, 32, 35, 48, 49, 76, 238, 

263. 
Finland, 183, 199, 337. 
Fogazzaro, 32, 290. 
Forest school in Germany, 198. 
Fourier, Charles, 160. 
Fourniere, 63, 68. 
France, 38, 48, 114, 126, 187, 193, 

195, 197, 198, 201, 211, 233, 235, 

271, 302. 
France, Anatole, 263. 
Franco-Prussian war, 24. 
Frankfort, 185. 
Freiligrath, 259. 
Freisinnige, 16. 
Free love, 125, 195, 231, 232. 
Free speech, 256. 
Free Trade, 16. 

Gallifet, General de, 72. 

Gambetta, 238. 

Garibaldi, 41, 88, 309. 

Geneva, 60. 

George, Henry, 162, 218, 360. 

Germany, 1, 34, 81, 114, 171, 184, 

193, 211, 233, 235, 302. 
Ghent, cooperation, 132, 144, 189, 

266; Vooruit, 146. 
Giolitti, 201. 
Gissing, George, 276. 
Gladstone, 88, 89. 



INDEX 



371 



Glasier, Bruce, 113, 114, 232, 233. 

Gorky, Maxim, 263, 268. 
Graham, Cunninghame, 91. 
Greenbackers, 218. 
Grigorovitch, 259, 265, 268- 
Guerrini, 32. 
Guesde, Jules, 48, 60, 61, 62, 64, 

66, 69, 71, 76, 78, 82, 87, 201, 2^8, 

309, 311. 
Guesdists, 66, 68, 72, 81, 83. 

Hamburg, 15. 

Hanover, 15. 

Hardie, Keir, 100, 101, 102, 105, 
106, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 207, 
229, 230. 

Hauptmann, Gerhart, 263, 278. 

Havre, 64. 

Haywood, Win. D., ^62. 

Hearst, W. R., 218, 251. 

Heine, 261, 312. 

Herbert, Auberon, 88. 

Herve,Gustave, 80, 82, 86, 277, 323. 

History, economic, 157. 

Hobson, S. G., 114. 

Holland, 345. 

Home, breaking up the, 195, 197. 

House of Commons, no, 229. 

House of Representatives, Ameri- 
can, 219. 

"Houses of the People," 135, 137, 
199, 295. 

Housing conditions, Germany, 27. 

Hugo, Victor, 259. 

Hull Congress, 127. 

Hungary, 335. 

Huysmans, Camille, 138. 

Hyndman, H. M., 88, 114. 

Ibsen, Henrik, 278. 

Illegitimacy, 196. 

Illiteracy, Italy, 37; Belgium, 130; 

other countries, 130. 
Income tax, 184. See Program. 
Independent Labor Party, 100, 104, 

105, 106, 109, no, 184, 192; 

policy, 218. 
Inglesias, Pablo, 310, 349. 
Insurance, 6, 26, 28, 144, 189. 
Integralism, 31, 49. 
Intellectuals, 32, 51, 56. 



International, the, 58, 59, 67, 132, 

133, 261, 294. 
Interparliamentary Congress, 253, 

254. 
Interpellation, right of. 213. 
Italy, 31, 61, 114, 126, 181, 187, 189, 

195, 197, 201, 212, 233, 235, 236. 

Japan, 311, 318, 353. 

Jaures, Jean, 68, 69, 70, 73, 75, 76, 
79, 82, 83, 86, 97, 124, 155, 201, 
206, 215, 238, 243, 245, 311, 323. 

Jena, 8. 

Joffrin, Jules, 65. 

Johnson, Tom, 208. 

Judge-made law, 212, 215, 216. 

"Justice," 89, 117. 

Karlsruhe, 15. 

Katayama, 318, 353. 

Kautsky, Karl, 8, 10, 12, 168, 200, 

241. 
Kiel, 185. 

Kielland, Alexander, 263, 264, 276. 
King, Bolton, 43. 
"Knights of Labor," American, 

360; Belgian, 143. 
Kropotkin, 265, 274, 277. 

"Labour Leader," 232, 233. 
Labriola, 31, 32, S3^ 46, 47> 49> 5°> 

52, 53- 
Lafargue, Paul, 63, 66, 79, 309. 
Lafontaine, Senator, 138. 
Lagardelle, 52. 
Laissez faire, 26, 27, 185. 
Land, public ownership of, 194. 
Lassalle, Ferdinand, 23, 272, 305. 
Lassallians, the, 168, 221, 309. 
Lecky, 295. 
Ledebour, n. 
Legien, 8. 
Leipsic, 15. 
Leone, 52. 
Leroux, Pierre, 314. 
Liberalism, 23, 28, 227, 298. 
Liberals, German National, 14, 16, 

20. 
Liebknecht, Dr. Karl, 9. 
Liebknecht, Wilhelm, 6, 23, 24, 25, 

103, 123, 154, 155, ^95, 201, 207, 



372 



INDEX 



221, 224, 242, 255, 298, 304, 307, 

3 11 , 3 I 5. 359- 
Liebknecht, Mrs. Wilhelm, 6. 
Lille, socialists of, 196. 
Limoges Congress, 56. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 11. 
Lombard, Jean, 63. 
Lombroso, 32, 263. 
London County Council, 100, 195, 

204. 
Love, free, 125, 195, 231, 232. 
Luxemburg, Rosa, 9. 
Lyons, 62. 

Macdonald, J. Ramsay, 114. 

Mackail, 91. 

Maeterlinck, Maurice, 263. 

Maguire, Tom, 104. 

Malon, Benoit, 65. 

Mann, Tom, 89, 92, 97, 101. 

Mannheim Congress, 3, 13. 

Marriage service, free, 196. 

Marseilles, 62. 

Marx, Karl, 13, 59, 69, 123, 137, 

154, 155, 162, 164, 206, 224, 241, 

261, 262, 297, 300, 302, 305, 307, 

310, 312, 314, 3*5- 
Marxists, 58, 61, 62, 63, 168, 201, 

203, 206, 309. 
Maternal schools, 197. 
Mazzini, 41, 88, 261, 272, 302, 309. 
Meredith, George, 272. 
Meunier, 259, 266. 
Milan, 45. 

Militarism, 6, 184, 200, 323. 
Milk supply, 198. 
Millerand, A., 48, 68, 70, 72, 73, 75, 

76, 85, 203, 206, 250. 
Millet, 259, 266. 
Milwaukee socialists, 208, 362. 
Mommsen, Professor, 227. 
Morris, William, 89, 90, 91, 96, 97, 

98^ 124, 263, 283. 
Munich, 15, 194. 
Municipalization, 22, 26, 30, 178, 

190, 192, 194, 195, 204. 
Mutualities, 138, 144. 

Nationalization, of industry, see 

Program; of land, 22. 
Negri, Ada, 263, 269, 270. 



Nekrassoff, 259. 

Newspapers, German, 5; Belgian, 

149; Italian, 38; French, 81. 
New York, 2, 43. 
New Zealand, 355. 
Nieuwenhuis, Domela, 310, 345. 
Nofri, Quirino, S3' 
Norway, 197, 342. 
Nuremberg, 15. 

Okey, Thomas, 43. 
Olivier, Sydney, 89. 
Opportunists, 201. 
Owen, Robert, 205, 298. 

Paepe, C. de, 123, 132, 133, 134, 
135, 137, 151, 207, 261, 310. 

Parliamentary methods, 51, 53, 210, 
221, 222. 

Pascoli, 32, 263. 

Peasant class in Italy, 34. 

Pease, Edward R., 114. 

Pecqueur, 205, 314. 

Pellering, Jean, 132. 

Picketing, 186, 228. 

Piedmont, 37. 

" Pinkertons," 186. 

PlechanofT, 318. 

Poland, 352. 

Poor law, 188. 

Populists, 218. 

Possibilists, 68. 

Poverty, in Germany, 28; Italy, 44; 
Belgium, 130. 

Powers, Johnny, 179. 

President of United States, 5, 211; 
of France, 211. 

Program, 153; Belgian, 172; Ger- 
man, 169. 

Property, private, 154, 231, 235, 

257- 
Proportional representation, 184. 
Proudhon, 137, 298, 304, 309, 310. 
Proudhonians, 58, 303. 
Public utilities, 26, 51, 193. 

Quelch, Harry, 117. 

Radziwill, Princess, 226. 
Railroads, 26, 191. 



INDEX 



373 



Referendum, 183. 

Reform, social, 178. 

Reformism and reformists, 31, 47, 

48, 49. 53. 20I > 2 ° 2 , 2 °3, 20 5> 2 °7> 

209. 
Repos hebdomadaire, 188. 
Republicans, 59, 60. 
Restaurants, school, 197. 
Revisionism, 75. 
Revolution, social, 153. 
Right to work, 25, 223, 228. 
Roberts, Lord, 232. 
Rockefeller, John D., 167. 
Ruskin, John, 259. 
Russia, 8, 32, 310, 318, 327. 
Ryan, Thomas F., 180. 

Saar, 19. 

St. Simon, 205. 

Schools, see Program. 

Serao, Matilde, 269. 

Servia, 351. 

Shaw, Bernard, 89, 94, 98, 114, 204, 

263, 279. 
Singer, Paul, 7. 
Slums, in Germany, 28, 30; in 

England, 231. 
Social Democratic Federation, 88, 

90, 97, 98, 100, 113, 116, 118. 
Sorel, 52. 
South Africa, 311. 
Spain, 310, 349. 
State socialism, 25, 27, 51, 223. 
Statistics, electoral, 253, 322. 
Steens, Eugene, 132. 
Steinlen, 263. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 264. 
Strike, general, 8, 13, 45, 81, 82, 141, 

334, 339, 34i. 
Stuttgart, 15, 319. 
Sudermann, Hermann, 277. 
Suffrage, 181, 183; Germany, 37; 

Belgium, 141; France, 37; Italy, 

37- 
Suffrage, Women's, 117, 118, 343. 
Sullivan, Tim, 179. 
Sweden, 310, 340. 
Switzerland, 190, 199, 212, 310, 

347. 
Syndicalism and syndicalists, 31, 47, 

48, 49, 5 2 , 53- 



Taff Vale decision, 107, 116. 

Tammany Hall, 43. 

Taylor, Helen, 89. 

Terrorist tactics, 329. 

Third party, 29, 105, 218. 

Tillett, Ben, 94. 

Tirano, 55. 

Tolstoy, Leo, 259, 271, 290. 

Trade unions, 186; Belgium, 142; 
Germany, 12; Italy, 36; France, 
66; England, 92, 106, 107; and 
socialism, 10, 81, no, 127, 36c. 

Trades Disputes Bill, 116, 186. 

Trafalgar Square Riot, 90. 

Troelstra, 318. 

Trusts, 27. 

Tschaykovsky, 254. 

Turati, 31, 32, 41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 
238. 

Turgueneff, 259, 265, 268, 272. 

Two-party system, 29, 216. 

Unearned increment, 184, 185. 

Unemployment, 144, 158, 160, 190, 
230. 

United States, 52, 105. See Amer- 
ica. 

Vaillant, Edouard, 59, 65, 69, 73, 

79, 83. 
Vanderbilts, the, 167. 
Vandervelde, Emile, 76, 79, 135, 

139, 141, 142, 215, 241, 252. 
Vereschagin, 277. 
Verga, Giovanni, 263, 269. 
Verrycken, Laurent, 132, 133. 
Vidal, 205, 314. 
Vienna, 204. 
Villari, Professor, 237. 
Vinck, Emil, 138. 
Viviani, 70, 85, 86, 206, 250. 
Volders, Jean, 133, 151. 
Vooruit, 146. 
Votes, socialist, Germany, 19, 21; 

Italy, 37; in all countries, 322. 

Wagner, 259, 281. 
Waldeck-Rousseau, 72. 
Wallace, Alfred Russ^l, 96, 263. 
Wallas, Graham, 89, 94. 
Ward, Osborne, w<. 



374 



INDEX 



Webb, Sidney, 89, 114, 204, 2S4. 
Wells, H. G.', 114, 263, 288. 
Whitman, Walt, 259. 
Wiesbaden, 185. 
Williams, Jack, 89, 90. 
Women's Suffrage, 117, 118, 343. 
Working-class, definition of, see 
Preface. 



Yerkes, 189. 

Zanardelli, 201. 
Zanarelli, 263. 
Zola, Emile, 259, 275 
Zurich, 42, 318. 
Zwickaw, 15. 



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